Her Choices
by Cabba
Summary: Sally now has to train her boys. With them on opposite ends of the scales and the horror of what had happened to them, the fate of the world literally depends on her. The Fates have taken an interest in them and this can mean no good... (Sequel to Pumki!) AU. Main characters - Sally, Percy and Harry.
1. Two years later

**Surprise! I wanted to get this out as soon as possible. Next update - Saturday.**

**Pumki got a total of 90 reviews! I didn't expect that many! Hey, thanks to E J ect for reviewing 7 times for The Lost Second. You didn't have to, but I'm surprised and happy . You actually read all my stories? Wow!**

**The sequel to **_**Pumki**_** is here! '_Her Choices_'! It's for you who've stuck with me from the beginning (which was only a month ago) and ofcourse, for everyone else. So watcha awaitin' fa?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the HP or PJO universes.**

* * *

Percy sighed. He leaned onto his hands, his face being tickled by the long grass. He giggled a bit, swatting it away.

"Not too hard." Harry muttered, not taking his eyes of the book he was reading, 'Mind of a Mnemonist'. Harry kept staring at the words as if agreeing or viciously contradicting the author. Percy let out a breath. Harry always knew when people mistreated a plant, flower, weed or even trees. He'd wince at times if he really concentrated on them. It was like one of his super-powers.

Yes. One of his super-powers was connecting with nature. The others?

Leaving out the facts that he could remember every single detail that had taken place in his life, read books meant for adults, understand those books, talk to snakes, was smarter than most adults, was much more mature for being a boy of his age, never smiled or understood jokes and knew how to incapacitate a grown man, Harry was your average next door young boy.

Percy always felt a bit jealous when he thought about this. He couldn't read even a few sentences. Or rather the letters wouldn't let him read. They'd always float around the page and even blur out. Percy could not talk to snakes. He could talk to fishes and dolphins, though.

The last time they had gone to Cristy Beach, Percy had spotted a few dolphins and had a very interesting conversation with them until dinner time. Apparently, everything looked blue underwater!

Percy wasn't smarter than adults. In fact, he felt dumber than most kids his own age. They could understand stuff at school, while he couldn't even concentrate what they were supposed to be learning about.

Mom had told him that it was a 'condition' called ADHD. He had forgotten what it stood for. The words floating off the page was because he also had Diseesa.

Percy frowned, "Hey, Harry? You know how I can't read properly? What's that called?"

Harry didn't look away from the book, but he said in his bored voice, "Dyslexia."

Yeah, that's the word!

Percy could also 'incapacitate a grown man', like Harry, but while his older brother would, fearlessly and without regret, chop down a wooden dummy into pieces with his bare hands and legs (you do not want to see Harry Potter glare at you, believe me!), Percy would do it only if he got a good reason to.

Mom told him that there were people who weren't nice in this world. He had first-hand experience in that, facing Dudley, Smelly Gabe, Harry's Uncle at times and his classmates. In reality, he had only two human people who loved him. (Well, Mom loved him. Harry on the other hand, was something like a boring, mute, shadow who would come to life only if Percy or Sally Jackson would talk to him.

Anyway, apparently, there were people even worse than the ones he already knew. To defend (or according to the way, they train everyday) fight like tireless machines, they had to know weak points of a body, by using dummies (No, not Percy).

At the moment, Harry and Percy were sitting in the outskirts of Crescent Park in Magnolia Crescent. It was just past five. Mom would be returning home soon.

Percy had been staring at everyone playing in the huge park. Some parents were even having a picnic with their kids. He could get the smell of barbeque even from his spot and felt his stomach growling. Percy instead looked a man holding his son's hand as they flew a kite together. The duo would laugh whenever they messed up, and the boy would run and get the kite off the ground.

Percy sighed again. He imagined Smelly Gabe teaching him how to fly a kite or helping him ride a second-hand bicycle, or teach him how to kick a ball around or pick him off the ground whenever he fell.

He felt heavy in his chest. The way he'd always feel when he wanted something important. No, not wanted. Needed.

"Harry. Why do you think Mom made Smelly Gabe to be our Dad?" Percy asked, getting up. He had been lying on his stomach and now some mud was stuck his shirt. Harry closed his book (Halleluiah!) and brushed off the dirt. He didn't answer though.

"Come on, Harry! Didn't you ever wish that we could have a better father? Someone who'd actually like us, at least!"

"No."

"You prefer that walrus?"

"No."

"Then?"

"Let's go. It's past five. Mum will be waiting." Harry got up and walked towards the wall of the forest. There were a few trees before reaching the black rusted gate. They climbed over it and started running, zipping past through the trees. Percy loved this. They came across Crescent River and jumped over it cleanly. After a few minutes, they reached another black iron gate and climbed over it.

"It's strange, nuh? How where we want to go into the forest, a gate happens to be there. Did you know that no other house has a gate that leads directly into the forest?" Percy mused walking towards their kitchen door.

"Yes."

"Why do you think it's like that?"

"Because nobody else needs it."

"Oh. That makes sense. Anyway, I don't think Mom's home yet. I hope she didn't miss the bus. I'm starving!" Percy whined and leaned against the counter.

"Drink some water." Harry said putting his book on the table. Percy blinked.

"I said I'm starving. Not thirsty."

"To you, water helps with both cases. Don't tell me you forgot, again?" Harry said staring at his brother who blushed now.

"Yeah…I forgot. But I still feel hungry!"

"Mum won't let me cook anything. You know that. Wait for sixteen minutes." Harry sat down at the table. Percy joined him, reaching out for his water bottle.

"How do you know that?" Percy asked suspiciously. He clasped his hands together to impersonate a gun and pointed it at Harry's face. _Smile, come on, you can do it…_

Harry didn't even blink as he explained. " The 5:05 Bus takes twenty minutes approximately to reach Crescent Bus Stop. A nine minute walk will be shortened to six if she hurries up when she's late, which is what Mum will be doing now. The 5:15 bus is faster and reaches in fourteen minutes. By looking at the time now, Mum will take a total of fourteen plus six minutes. It was 5:11 when we left the park. Six minutes to reach here even with our speed. Two minutes for our illogical chatter on water and hunger. Half a minute for my explanation. Going back that half minute, the time was 5:19:29. Estimated time for Mum to reach was 5:35. 35 minus 19:29 is 15:31 minutes. Now, wait for 15 minutes."

Harry leaned in to take the bottle and have a sip. Percy stared at him and then shook his head as if physically trying to come back to reality.

"I have a doubt, teacher." He said raising his hand. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"What does 'aprotimati' mean? I spent half a minute on that."

Harry didn't show any reaction, but Percy could see in his dull green eyes that he wasn't expecting that.

Mom always said the both of them to stick to each other at all times. Probably so that they won't go mad by being alone.

Best to go mad together, huh.

" 'Approximately' means 'more or less'. 'Roughly'. " Harry said.

Percy seized this chance of teasing Harry, "Which meant you didn't actually know, did ya?"

"I knew. But it was unnecessary. What would you have done with the extra information?"

"Danced the tango." Percy said keeping his face emotionless like Harry.

Five seconds passed before Percy conceded defeat and burst out laughing. Harry's posture and expression never changed.

"You sh…should have seen…seen your face!" Percy choked. Harry frowned. "I didn't do anything." The latter commented.

"Exactly. I always use you as my punch line! If jokes sold for good money, we'd be the richest kids in the world!"

"Probability of that happening is lesser than money growing on trees." Harry said tilting his head, trying to decipher his brother's actions. One of the few things he was not good at.

"Yeah, but in this case, its jokes that grows on trees! Get it?" Percy had another fit of laughter when he saw the confusion in Harry's eyes.

"Come on! I said you were the joke and you and trees and then jokes and… oh forget it!" Percy shook his head and took deep breaths in calming himself down.

He looked up to see Harry staring at him. His eyes boring into Percy's, seeing much more innocence in them and feeling strange. Harry looked down to feel his bracelet on his left hand. He could feel the heat from it. It was his fear that the bronze charm would suddenly burst into flames and roast them alive.

"You also kill my jokes, you know?" Percy's albeit sad voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Before he could respond, the key clicked in the lock and the sound of the door opening, reached their ears. Listening to the clicks of the short heels, Percy's face brightened and he called, "Hey, Mom! We're in the kitchen."

Sally came around the corner to see her children sitting obediently at the table. Her face automatically broke into a wide smile. She kissed their heads by turn and said, "So, how was your first day of school ?"

"I didn't like it." Percy said straight away. Partly, because the kids there were treating him like dirt and also because he and Harry were in separate grades. Percy being in second and Harry in fourth. The latter skipped first grade after the kindergarten teachers had advised him to and then he skipped the third grade when his second grade class teacher had said that it was a complete waste of time teaching him what he already knew so well.

"The pace of teaching is a bit faster than second grade, but it's alright." Harry shrugged.

"This is only school. There a lot more important that going to happen. I'm sure of it." Sally comforted them. She knew that Percy would absolutely suffer because he was a son of Poseidon and his Dyslexia would hinder him more than the usual demi-gods. Harry didn't have Dyslexia nor ADHD. Though she had established him as a non-monster and a non-demigod, now after seeing proof, she was bit more worried.

_Calm down, Sally! You're doing everything that you can. Their lives are more important than education, but learning can save them too. You're doing it right. You're doing it right._

"Did you eat what Aunt Petunia made?" Sally asked hoping to divert her thoughts. The boys shook their heads. That diverted Sally's thoughts.

"They had to go out somewhere. We ate some fruits that I got, but Percy went in a frenzy, so we went to the park after finishing our homework. Don't worry, I made sure that Percy did his own." Harry explained.

"It took years!" Percy complained.

"No, it didn't." Harry said looking a little surprised.

"Felt like years." The younger boy mumbled.

Sally thought and said, "Alright, I don't have anything now, so let's get take-out for the evening. We'll go right now."

* * *

"Mom? Can't we get another Dad? Harry, you and I hate Smelly Gabe. And he hates us. So everyone wins…"

Sally sighed. The three of them had just crossed the main road and Percy, who had been in deep thought, voiced out his doubt.

"Gabe is important. We need him. At least, for a few more years. After that, everything will be close to perfect." Sally hoped this would be enough. She was wrong.

Harry frowned as he looked up at her, "_Close to perfect_? Are you expecting something bad? Yes, you are. What's going to happen? Can we stop?"

Sally tried to give a satisfactory explanation to her son, "I told you before. You're different. The both of you. When you're old enough, you'll understand."

Harry nodded, "I understand that whatever we're going to find out will not be good for our state of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. But I sense you're doing you best to prepare us. I think you're doing a splendid job, Mum."

If he hadn't said the word, 'Mum' at the end, Sally would have felt an adult was praising her for her work. She giggled and smiled at them.

"So next time, before you ask me this, again, remember what I said right now." Sally finished.

Percy nodded, "If I forget, Harry'll remind me. With that idiotic memory of his…"

"It's 'eidetic', Percy! I have eidetic memory! Don't say it wrong on purpose!" Harry explained finally bursting today.

Percy sniggered and tightened his grip on Sally's left hand, "Oops! I forgot! But this just proves my point. Harry'll remind me, but I shall do my best to remember it myself. What is it that I have to remember?"

Sally laughed, "What will I ever do without you?"

Harry felt warmth and a little lightheadedness when his mother laughed. He leaned against her holding her right hand as Percy grinned, "All sorts of silly stuff."

* * *

**Yello! This is just to show you where they are now. The chapter's longer than I had originally hoped for. But who feels sad when they realize that the chapter in a book is longer than they thought. **

**For example : Every PJO fan was crushed when the last chapter in SoN ended so abruptly…**

**Stay tuned for more!**

**Cabba. **


	2. Puzzles and new enemies

**Hiya!I finished this earlier than I thought I could. The third chap's coming on a nice bright Sunday. Hey that's day-after-tomorrow!**

** HC got 8 reviews for her first chapter! She has 12 followers, is on the fav list of 7 authors and is on 3 communities already! A clap for everyone!**

**I'm changing the rating to 'T'. You'll see the reason why on Sunday.**

**Yes, Harry's dull and Percy's bright. You'll understand why soon. Yes, it's part of the plot.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the original works of the HP or PJO works by JKR and RR.**

* * *

"Does it tickle you, Harry? It tickles me. I feel like giggling like a Barbie girl!"

"You _are_ giggling like a Barbie girl, Percy."

Percy tried to stifle his giggles. He and Harry were back to back on the grass in the forest. Sally was a small distance away writing in a pocket notebook.

The boys were in a full split. Meaning, Percy's right leg was tied to Harry's left leg and vice-versa. Sally had told them that improving the flexibility of the body should start from an early age. It's easier to get out of tight spots if you can literally squeeze your way through it.

"Mom, we've been sitting like this for years!" Percy exclaimed.

"No, we haven't!" Harry said mildly surprised. Sally looked up from her book and said, "Alright, get your selves out, now."

The pair stared at her. Then they tried to look at each and Harry began, "Okay, Percy. You lean towards your left and-"

"But I wanna be right this time!"

"Alright, we'll both go right-"

"How can we both go right? I mean, we can, but shouldn't we bend in opposite direction?" Percy asked.

"Your right is my left. So if we both go to our rights, we'll be leaning in the opposite way." Harry explained patiently. Percy sighed, "I don't get it."

"Just go to your right leg." Harry said leaning towards his right to grab at the thin ropes. In a few minutes, the ropes came off (Percy complained about complicated knots looking like pretzels and feeling hungry).

"One last thing before we wrap up for today", Sally said looking at the darkening sky. "Sit down."

"I want to see if we can build up resistance to your… for lack of better word…powers." Sally amended.

Harry looked hesitant, "But it doesn't feel good when I see some people pulling out plants. I actually hurt when Aunt Petunia weeds the garden. Not muscle pain, something deeper."

Sally pursed her lips and then said, "Can you distract yourself from it? Think about other things. For example, if a plant in your vicinity is hurt-"

"I'd heal it."

"What I meant was if a plant in your surrounding area was in the process of being hurt by other people, where you cannot do anything, you can occupy your mind with something your brain would find challenging."

Percy frowned, "I didn't exactly understand what you just said, but Harry's brain is all super-powered, right? So what kinda-"

"Puzzles. That's what came to mind at first. That's why I bought you this." Sally reached into her jacket pocket and pulled ou Rubik cube. Six sides, six colours.

Harry took it slowly and shifted a few of the rows. Then he shifted it back. He looked up at his mother, "It seems easy."

Sally smirked and took the cube. She started jumbling up the rows and columns and when she realized that Harry had been staring intently at each move, she shifted the cube behind her back, jumbled up a bit more, threw it into the air and caught it again, shifting around the cube so fast it seemed to dart around her. She threw it back to Harry and he stared at the now perfectly mixed up cube.

Harry nodded and looked back at her. "I'll get right to it."

"It was so pretty! You mish-mashed it!" Percy whined. Sally chortled, "What?"

"It's a word!" Percy defended. His mother only ruffled his hair and bent down to pick up the ropes. They started walking back towards the gate.

"You can start solving it tomorrow, Pumpkin." Sally said kissing his head as he climbed over the fence with a running leap and disappeared. Sally closed the gate and as they entered into the kitchen, Percy turned to his mother, "Did you get me anything?"

"Not physically. I have a riddle for you. Let's see if you can solve it."

"Shoot." Percy smiled. He was never actually jealous of Harry, but sometimes he wished they had more money so that his Mom could by two of everything.

"_A beggar had a brother who lived in Spain. But the brother had no brother. Explain."_ Sally recited. It had been one of her favourites and took her about an hour to solve. She had been thirteen, then.

"You have as much time as Harry has to solve his cube. Now, help me set out the table."

* * *

Percy slowly popped out from behind the dustbins. He could hear the chatter of a hundred students a good distance away from him. Okay, he had done good, so far. Now to get to the corner spot without being seen…

"Hey, Jackson!"

Oh man!

"Ha, look at this, fellows! The tramp, finally found his place in this world!" The tall brawny kid, Carl, exclaimed. He and his buddies roared in laughter as Percy started to mutter in Spanish. What had possessed him to hide next to the trash, he'll never know.

He tried to sneak away, but one of them caught him by the scruff of his collar and yanked him back.

"Where do you think you're going? Back to Mummy?!"

Percy gritted his teeth. _Contar hasta diez y recuerde respirar. No se les venía encima. Vas a tener problemas ... _(Count to ten and remember to breathe. Don't hit them. You'll get into trouble…)

**Splash!**

Percy's eyes shot open to see six soaking wet, eight graders who seemed to be in shock. The bottles of water they had been holding had burst open. Everything around them was damp.

Except for Percy.

"Look at that! Told you he's a freak! Bad things always happen when you get too close to him and that Potter!" One of the boys glared at Percy.

Carl looked murderous. But before anything else could happen, a voice stunned them all, "And yet you get really close to us. This shows who the idiots are."

Harry looked absolutely tiny compared to the older boys. But armed with an orange in one hand and a lemon in another, along with the piercing look in his dark green eyes, he appeared to be the dangerous one in the confronting.

"You got a death wish, freak?" Carl's right-hand boy stepped up, but Carl stopped him. He smirked at the scrawny, messy haired kid.

"You better apologize before things get ugly."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "We're already past that point. I'm looking at six of the ugliest humanoid rhinos, I've ever seen."

Percy 'coughed' loudly. He didn't understand what 'humanoid' meant, but the comment managed to make Carl red with anger.

Carl leaned right into Harry's face and said, "You're dead, kid."

Harry stared right back without a hint of fear, "Last I checked, when you get lemon juice in your eyes, it hurts a damn lot."

He raised his hand and squeezed the lemon into Carl's face. The older boy swore as he clutched his face trying to rub his eyes. His friends started shouting all at once. They couldn't wash it off, cause none of them had any water, thanks to Percy.

One of the boys glared at Harry and Percy, "Congratulations. You just dug your own grave. Welcome to Hell."

The six boys ran away and Percy looked at Harry, "Thanks. But I could have handled by myself."

Harry nodded, "I know. We might've kept too much to ourselves last year. If one of us is a target, so is the other."

Percy felt his throat tighten. "Brothers forever." He held out his hand in the arm wrestling posture. Harry grabbed it with his own and said, "Forever and more."

"You know, Mom's not gonna like if she hears that you swore." Percy said as they walked to one of the picnic tables. Lunch time in school was outside on the tables whenever the weather was favourable.

"Trust me when I say, 'Damn' is the least of it. You've heard lots more from your wonderful step-father and my fantastic uncle.

Percy laughed. He looked around to see kids of all ages from six to fifteen hang around in the area, eating, chatting, running around as if celebrating the freedom from teachers. He had a feeling that the teacher would be having a mini-party now.

"If we were girls, nobody would bother us, right Harry?" Percy asked slowly.

Harry looked up in surprise. He swallowed up his orange and set the Rubik Cube on his lab. "I've not thought about it. But I suppose the bothering would be less. I'm guessing older girls don't mingle with the 'outsiders'. Where did that thought come from?"

Percy shrugged. If you looked at it, girls had it much easier than boys. They could speak freely about every topic possible, but if a guy would talk about something remotely connected to the girl's area, he'd be made fun of. When frustrated, a girl could hit a guy but the other way around is not allowed. Boys were considered as nuisances and if girls behaved like that, people would believe that they were corrupted by another source like the boys.

Percy shook his head. It was probably the ADHD which made him think about such a mundane topic – girls.

Percy blinked. _Girls…_

_..._

Harry spun the cube in his hands. He could get one side perfectly, but that side would be compromised if he tried to change even a single small cube. It felt frustrating to say the least.

He closed his eyes to remember the way Mum had jumbled it up. Left - up, base - right, middle horizontal - right, right - right, left - down, top - left, middle vertical - right, right - left, left - down…

Wait a second! Two of the cubes came back in the same position it had been in. He went over the steps before he remembered her doing it behind her back and flipping it into the air. The cube hadn't changed when she had thrown it up. She had probably done that to confuse him.

Harry bit into a lemon, savouring the taste. He didn't understand why everyone else felt it horribly bitter…

By repeating two steps over and over again, he'd get the original small cube back in its place original place. What was the probability that he'd get the base back into its right place? The centre cube never moved so that was the anchor.

Harry froze. That was it!

* * *

"The beggar was a girl!"

"I set it back!"

Sally nearly dropped her purse. She had just entered through the door after her day's work and had been looking forward to a small nap. She most certainly didn't expect to get the answers within 24 hours.

"When did you figure it out?" She asked sitting on the couch to remove the horrendous heeled shoes.

Percy was close to jumping with excitement. Harry simply looked satisfied in having solved his cube. "At lunch, in school today. Can we have another one?"

Sally thought about it. If she gave riddles to them every day, Percy might not be able to concentrate on schoolwork. Harry who could manage it, might fiddle with the cube everyday and may become a fanatic Rubic Cube solver. That wasn't a bad thing, but she decided to keep a check on it.

"Tell you what. We'll have riddles and cube solving every weekend. I'll get time to think about good brainteasers for the both of you and you should answer to me before Sunday gets over. Now, I'm going for a wash and an itty bitty nap. Behave yourself. Don't blow anything up."

Percy looked beyond thrilled at the prospect of having non-academic queries thrown at him. "Can we go into the forest, Mom?"

Sally sighed. "Sure, keep to the river. Stick together. Don't stray away from the river in case I need to find you and don't go in too deep into the forest. And before I forget, cube please."

Harry looked a bit surly as he handed over his precious puzzle item to her.

"Have fun." Sally locked the door after the two seven year olds ran over to the gate and climbed over it. She sighed. They'd never open it. Always in a rush…

* * *

**Harry's and Percy's minds are so dissimilar. I take a few seconds to get my head in that state before typing out their thoughts. Hope you liked it!**

**Stay tuned, folks!**

**Cabba.**


	3. Past revelations

**I was expecting a few more reviews, to be honest. But those who did, boosted my confidence as usual. Thanks! Third chapter up and at 'em!**

**Warning: Mentions of Mafia Gangs and drug dealing. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own HP or PJO. Nor do I promote any illicit activities mentioned in the story. This is purely fanfiction borne from imagination.**

* * *

Sally bit her lower lip as she turned the key to lock the door. Harry and Percy were in their room and their task was to find their own way out without Sally's help. It had been nearly two years after that… day. She had no idea what to make of it. Other than the fact that something had happened to them, it seemed like they had undergone a personality change.

Harry wasn't a kid. Or at least, he didn't act like one. He would brood around if he didn't have any school work or puzzles or chores to do. Sally had a feeling that he remembered what had happened but had decided to pretend not to know. His eyes were dull as if they were minutes away from losing their light. The skin under his eyes was a bit dark as if he hadn't had a good night's sleep for a very long time.

Percy was exactly like a seven year old child who had consumed an entire jar of sugar. At times, it seemed as if he didn't understand what was going on. His ADHD shouldn't act like this. But sometimes he would suddenly be very hyper and energized. Talking so fast in Spanish (he really loved that language) Sally could barely catch up with him. His blue-green eyes were bright and full of life. As if he had stolen Harry's understanding of 'fun', literally.

The only thing which made people think that the three of them were related was the colour of their skin. If white had an impure shade existing, it was on their skins. The dull pale colour was what frightened Sally at first. It was as if somebody had absorbed the blood right from their body. That coupled with the fact that all three of them had pitch black hair made them look like vampires or something.

As Sally sat down on the couch, she heard a click and Percy's bedroom door opened. The boys walked out and sat next to her and Percy happily asked, "What's next? A race to the river?"

Sally frowned and she looked at them, "No, I have a better idea. Let's start learning another language."

Harry sat up straight and Percy's eyes widened.

"Chinese!" He shouted. Sally couldn't help but burst out laughing. Percy was absolutely adorable when he was so excited.

" I was thinking French, mon petit. We'll try to tackle Mandarin after we understand the language of love." (My little one.)

Harry looked at her with interest, "I didn't realize that you knew French too, Mum."

Sally looked a bit sheepish, "Actually, I know only a few phrases. So I'll be learning along with you, Pumpkin."

Percy grinned and turned to Harry, "I'm so gonna trounce ya in this!"

Harry frowned, "What does that even mean?"

"I'm gonna learn French faster than you!"

"No, you won't."

"I won't?"

"No."

Percy hesitated and then said, "I hate it when you do that."

Sally frowned. "Pumpkin, what did you do?"

Harry ducked his head feeling a little shamed. He had almost convinced his brother to go against his own wishes.

"I won't do it again. At least, if our lives are not in danger." Harry said.

Sally just rearranged her thoughts. Looking at the time, she panicked. "I'm going to be late! Eat your fruits, drink lots of water, eat all the veggies from Aunt Petunia's lunch, do your homework, watch a little TV, equal times for both of you, no fighting, no destroying the house or anyone elses' and don't go into the forest! Love you!" She kissed their heads and they in turn kissed her cheeks and she zipped out the house faster than being chased by a rabid hell hound.

Percy giggled and Harry said, "I think I have dyslexia."

"What?" Percy said spinning around to see him. Harry pressed his lips together and explained, "The words are starting to blur if I don't hold the book close to my eyes."

"Oh! Funny, huh? The both of us has dyslexia!" Percy mused. He got up to get an apple from the fruit tray in the kitchen. Harry blinked. As Percy walked away from him, the outline began to blur. Harry shook his head and frowned. Was this how dyslexia was? But Percy could see clearly. That much was evident when he'd press his nose against the back window of the school bus when it turned around the corner of their street and claimed that he could see Aunt Petunia waiting for her precious Diddykins. It didn't sound as if he were lying.

May be, in Harry's case it was worse. Making it point to read more about it, Harry looked up just in time to see a guava soar through the air. He caught it with his right hand and bit into it.

"I think you've been eating too many oranges. You're starting to smell like it." Percy said jumping onto the couch. "So, what to do on a nice bright Saturday afternoon?"

"Homework."Harry said shortly and pulled Percy towards the bedroom as the latter groaned.

It wasn't as bad as Percy had thought. He was getting a hang on the addition concept only if he could hang on to the numbers as they floated around. He could swear that a few of them just did a back flip.

Hmphh! He could do one better than them!

He looked at Harry who was pressing a pencil to his lower lip. Percy had been doing the same and he lowered the pencil. As he watched, Harry frowned at the question in his textbook and circled the number. He closed the book and looked up at Percy.

"What?"

"I'm done." Percy said throwing the book off his lap. It landed at the edge of the bed and Harry said, "According to the grapevine, so am I."

"What?"

"It means apparently. I thought it suited me." Harry and Percy looked at each other and then, as if reading the other's thoughts, they fell back on the bed. Harry pushed back his hair and rubbed at his scar.

"That scar's so weird and cool, you know?" Percy said. Harry sighed, "I don't know. It never heals. But I suppose it is…cool." The word rolled off his tongue uncomfortably.

"Your accent ,makes the word 'cool' sound so uncool. You need to practice." Percy smirked. Harry rolled his eyes.

"I bet Aunt Petunia would know how you got it." Percy said after some time. Harry opened his eyes and he whipped his head to look at him. He jumped off the bed and ran towards the door.

"Hey, wait for me!" Percy shouted.

"We'll pick up the lunch and then you go out while I ask her." Harry said locking the door and putting the key in his pocket as an added measure.

Percy noticed that Harry looked tremendously hopeful. What if Aunt Petunia didn't know how, it happened?

They went to the kitchen door of No. 4 Privet Drive. Harry hated the garden. It was too prim and proper. Plants should not be kept like that. She always pruned it as if she had been cutting hair. His hair to be more specific.

Aunt Petunia was less than happy to see them, but it was her usual reaction to them. She shoved the package to Percy and said, "Now, will you leave?"

Percy immediately went out the door but waited there hoping that he could hear in the conversation.

"What?" She asked when Harry hadn't moved.

"Uh…I want to know h-"

"Then go to the library!" She snapped.

Harry forced himself to look at her steadily. There were few people who could make him lose his nerve and she was one of them. Having been there to cut him down whenever he tried to grow hopeful, she was a constant reminder of the neglect before the Jacksons moved in.

"How did I get my scar?" He asked a bit too loudly. _Cálmate, idiota!_ (Calm down, idiot!)

Aunt Petunia froze. Then a glare greeted him as she spat, "In a car crash, when your parents died!"

She left the kitchen not caring about the young boy she'd had just stunned. Harry didn't move for a half minute, before Percy shuffled back in and lead him back to their house and into his room.

"Come on. A sandwich! It doesn't smell bad, either." Percy tried to coax Harry, but the older boy simply looked down at his hands with a small frown on his face. He was deep in thought and that was a bad thing. Percy sighed and when Harry suddenly spoke, he jumped.

"I'm not hungry."

"Uh…but Mom said, you have to eat. At least take one." Percy mumbled. Harry stared at Percy who summoned some courage from God knows where (that felt weird) and stared right back at Harry.

Harry's shoulders slumped as he took a sandwich and bit into it. He frowned at the taste, but considering that it was from his aunt, it was shockingly not horrible.

* * *

Great! It was a simply lovely day! First, Sally broke her shoe heel. Then, she missed the first bus. After that, she had to face her boss who, unfortunately for her, had been in a bad mood for a few hours before, because his wife was planning to leave him as he was too short-tempered, rude to her and always fought with her. Imagine that.

Then, Sally had to babysit a group of girls who had come for one of the movies with a woman who had an emergency call and had to rush off for an hour. That was an excellent experience indeed, as they commented on her broken shoe heel, her outfit and hair. Note to self – Do not look after 11 ten year olds who had come as a school group even if immortality was offered.

Oh, her wonderful day didn't stop there. She had missed her coffee break and had to sneak out under her boss's nose to sit in the rest room for a few minutes to do some breathing exercises. Of course, she was caught by one of the security women who had thought she was taking drugs, which had been the cause of the deep breathing. After a thorough investigation by the entire sub department of the police that had been called, she was let go with a mountain of apologies from them. She had to deal with her boss again which resulted in getting the notification that she wasn't going to get the day's pay for embarrassing him like that.

Sally sighed. At times, she wished she could have a life free of troubles. No huge responsibilities, no hard working, no sacrificing, no regrets and no pain. She wished that her parents were still here. She wished Kimmy could come back to her. She wished Poseidon would comfort her and she wished that Patrick would be here to smile at her, that unbelievable smile; it could make you go nuts, it could make your knees wobble, it could make you think that you were staring at a complete lunatic.

She missed that lunatic.

Turning the key in the lock, she hobbled inside the house. Slipping off the shoes, she felt a little gratitude that she hadn't twisted her ankle. Her mind drifted to a police report she had read years ago.

* * *

…_broken ankle…_

_Kimmy had been wearing her favourite heels when they had found her dead. They were broken and her ankle was twisted. No, she didn't fall down by herself._

_Kimberly was murdered._

_By a mythical Greek monster? Some prophecy? A God? The Fates?_

_No, by a Mafia gang. Completely mortal. Mortal and stupid. They were under the impression that the seventeen year old teen girl whose older boyfriend was also involved in the Mafia Wars had been a spy. A special one-man task force was sent to take her out. Yeah, a contract killer._

_No sophisticated guns, no high-tech artillery; none whatsoever._

_Blunt force trauma to the head and three stab wounds to the chest and stomach with a rusted knife from the garbage._

_That's it. Like she wasn't worth it._

_Percy had been with her. Sally was with Patrick at a café shop a few blocks from home. They were hanging out as just friends. Patrick was married and had a little girl named Charlotte. _

_Percy was kidnapped._

_If not for Patrick, they might not have solved the case and got Percy back along with another teenage girl who was abducted from an alley._

_The only lead the police (and Sally) had to begin with was that an up close attack would have been motivated by a personal relationship. _

_Oh, they found the murderer. Sally had made him pay. He had been about to kill Patrick too. She did the only thing she could think of. She took one of the guns from an officer who was down and shot him. Six stunning blows to the chest._

_Patrick got himself out of the murderer's grip and stared at Sally, afraid. He walked to her. She dropped the gun in shock._

"_I had too." She had said._

_Patrick had nodded, "Your instinct."_

_They were alone. Two officers were unconscious. Four drug dealers were dead. They were in an abandoned warehouse. And they were far too close to each other._

_Sally knew that they would have kissed if Percy hadn't started crying to let her know that he was there. The small one year old baby was wearing the same clothes he had been since the day he was abducted._

* * *

Sally shook her head and dropped down to the couch. She couldn't hear the boys. They were probably asleep. She was quite late. But if they slept at six in the evening, they'd be up all night. She got up and walked to Percy room. It was empty. There were books on the bed which was unmade, but they weren't there.

Her heart started thudding too fast. Calm down. They're safe. They're alright…

She opened her eyes. There was faint music coming from upstairs. Walking up the steps, she realized that it was her ballerina box. A small dark pink musical box, which, if opened would play a soft melodic tune. It was ideal to put Percy and Harry to sleep.

She entered her room and found exactly that.

The box was open and the small figurine of a marble doll ballerina was slowly spinning around as the music was being played. Harry was at the absolute edge of the bed on his stomach with his left hand hanging out. Percy was over Harry's back almost at a 90 degree, with his head sticking out. Both the boys were fast asleep, though Harry's breathing was a bit labored with Percy's weight.

Sally slowly shifted Percy to sleep by his brother's side. She brushed back Harry's hair, his bags falling across his cheeks. He looked so innocent in his sleep. Like Percy.

Sally blinked. Harry's cute little button-like nose looked exactly like Percy's.

She rubbed her eyes frantically. They weren't related by blood. How was this possible?

She leaned back to try and get into a more comfortable position, but she accidentally knocked the music box. It fell, but Sally caught it.

Harry stirred when the lullaby stopped. He blinked a few times before realizing that his Mum was there. He frowned.

"What's wrong, Pumpkin?" Sally asked, skipping the pleasantries. Harry muttered, "I think I need glasses."

Sally looked taken aback. "You can't read properly? Or you can't see far away objects?"

Harry thought about it and said, "The second one. Everything blurs if it's too far away."

Sally sighed. "We'll go to an optician in a few days. I'm a little busy for now. Now tell me what happened."

Harry felt a little surprised. How did she know such things?

"I know something happened, honey. Do you want to talk about it?" Harry shook his head.

She laid her arm around him and Percy, the latter still asleep.

"Aunt Petunia said that they died in a car crash. That's how I got this." He pointed to his scar which was still black and deadly looking against his pale skin.

"Do you believe her?" Sally asked holding Harry's small hand. He looked down and then at her and said, "I don't want to, but she might be right."

"And why do you think that?" Sally inquired softly. Harry's voice was close to a whisper, "I hear them…screaming, sometimes…a bright green flash too…and it hurts when I try hard and remember. Green light could be the traffic signal, right?"

"I don't think so." A voice mumbled and Percy raised his head, his hair sticking up in one direction. "Signals usually are really high up. If you're gonna crash, why would you, as a baby look at the signal? Shouldn't you be looking at what's happening right in front of you?" Percy explained.

Sally couldn't believe her ears. Percy had actually given a remarkably reasonable counter-explanation to Harry's dream. He did have common sense a little on the uncommon scale!

Harry's mouth a bit open and he shut it at once. Percy felt a little self-conscious by their stares, "What?"

* * *

**My longest chapter yet! I hope you liked it. If you did, what's your reaction? Constructive criticism is also welcome. Don't blast me, though. I'm still a newbie. Not even two years old.**

**Stay tuned for more!**

**Cabba.**


	4. Discovering Parents in an Attic

**12 reviews for the third chapter! Yikes! I wasn't expecting that many! This is your reward. The fourth chapter, bright and early!**

**Today is Oct 2 - MK Gandhi's birthday **

**... and release date for Mark of Athena. (You think I'm calm? Yeah, right!)**

**The fourth book in the HoO series is called 'The New Olympus'.**

**Yes, Harry's change sounds creepy, but that's the way it is.**

**He does sound like Artemis Fowl, doesn't he? I hadn't realized that...**

**I've decided that after Her Choices, I'll start on Harry's wizarding years. I'll wait for Percy's demigod life after reading Mark of Athena.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to what I write except or the change in the HP and PJO sagas. (Did that make sense?)**

**Words - 2195**

* * *

Harry clutched his sheet, his eyes tightly clenched. It wasn't as if he was afraid of the dark. He hated it. He hated being in a tiny space filled with darkness. It was like someone was suffocating him. At times, he felt that he literally couldn't breathe.

Harry pushed away the sheet, but didn't dare switch on the light. If one of the Dursleys were walking past and saw the light…

He closed his eyes and held his breathe. He could hear them snoring upstairs. No other movements. Harry removed the little hair pin, Mum had given. She hadn't said what to use it for, but know he knew. She was always a step ahead of Harry and Percy.

There was tiny click and the door slowly opened. Getting out of his cupboard, he sneaked into the kitchen to one of the indoor plants. The plant leaned towards him and he closed his eyes feeling the leaves and stems brushing against him. It felt soft. Like how Mum would brush his cheek to make his hair go back and tell him and his brother that everything was going to be alright.

Harry felt the urge to do something that the Dursleys wouldn't like. Actually, he was already doing that just by breathing but still…

He took an apple from the fruit tray and closed his palms over it. He bent forwards, his eyes shut as he concentrated on the apple. He felt a little breeze rustle around him in the closed room and he knew that he had done it.

Harry put the original apple back into the tray while looking at the new one he had just made.

"Thank you." He whispered and bit into it.

Percy had always found it funny when he thanked the plants after they let him do stuff like that. But it was a good natured laugh and so Harry never minded. He liked to see Percy laugh. He should never be even a little bit sad, according to Harry.

He carefully climbed up the stairs towards the attic. He had never been there, but knew that there was a window from which you could see the long view of both sides of the streets. He'd always wanted to go, but was forbidden.

He'd never go to the basement. He hated that place. Being dark and smelly, yes even the Dursleys' basement was a bit smelly, it was a place where he would never, willingly, venture.

He looked up the ladder at the end of the first floor hallway. There was a small crack in it. When Dudley had tried to climb up, it had wobbled, giving him the fright of his life. He had never tried to back in there. The ladder obviously could not hold Uncle Vernon's weight and Aunt Petunia never went in there.

The attic could be his hiding place. As long as never left traces as he went up. Placing his leg on the first rung, he pushed up to the next. The ladder unsurprisingly held still. At the top, Harry held on the latch and waited for one of Uncle Vernon's tremendous snores. In synch with the noise, he turned the latch and pushed the slab of wood. There was a creaking noise and Harry froze.

The snores weren't interrupted. Harry tried not to breathe as he went up and slowly closed the hatch. He looked around. The pale light from the moon illuminated what he saw. A few carton boxes that looked empty, a large feather and behind the boxes was another long box. Everything was coated with a thick layer of dust. Harry frowned and stepped towards the box. Thankfully, the floorboards didn't creak as he walked.

He touched the box. It was made out of a good piece of wood. He felt the sturdiness and also a small tingle in his fingers. There was a faded word on it. He rubbed out the dust and blew it. The word 'POTTER' was engraved on it in a curved style. Harry tried not to gasp. This box had a steel lock.

He fumbled for the pin in his pockets. Carefully twisting it in the lock, he got the box open. The tingling ran over his arm before completely fading out. Harry held still but then slowly opened the lid and let it rest against the wall.

What he saw was the last thing he had expected.

A guitar. A beautiful, designed guitar which looked custom made. He ran his fingers over the strings. They hummed and he quickly shut the sound. It was dark brown with black curved markings.

He saw a small book next to the guitar. Taking it out and shaking out the dust, he opened it. The book had lots of things written in it. The handwriting was lovely. It looked feminine but didn't belong to Aunt Petunia. Reading a few sentences, Harry realized that they were lyrics to songs.

He flipped through a few more pages before something fell out. A photo.

Harry dropped the book when he saw the black and white photograph. A boy and a girl stood arm in arm. The backdrop was castle with a forest. The scenery was exquisite. The couple in their late teenage years, were grinning broadly. Literally.

The picture was moving like a two dimensional small television. There was wind blowing through their hairs. The boy was handsome. His eyes were mischievous and bright behind his round black framed glasses. The girl was quite beautiful. Her hair reached to the middle of her back. Her eyes were almond shaped. Her smile was contagious. Harry felt his lips trying to turn upwards.

He didn't feel shocked at the picture's ability to move. Rather he was almost expecting it.

He turned the photo and saw words written in a slightly unbalanced writing.

**JamesPotter&LilyEvans4eva! **

* * *

Harry was rather quiet the entire day at school. Other than dodging the jocks and his classmates, (all who hated him because he was smarter than them), stopping Percy from falling into the trash can (long story) and surviving certain death (lunch break), Harry was in his own world.

Percy knew not to disturb him, but he also knew that Harry shouldn't think this much. There was a limit to number of thoughts passing through your head every second. Even for his older brother.

"Hey. Harry? You want to finish my sandwich? I don't like tuna."

Harry let out a grunt and took the sandwich. Percy sighed, "Whatever's bothering you, is it bad? Or worse?"

Harry chewed slowly before muttering ,"Neither. I don't know. I want to show you something. Let's go."

Percy gladly took the tray and dumped the rest of the food. He and Harry ran towards the school doors and went into the room where no one would want to be in.

The Detention Room along with every other room and hallway did not have cameras. It was lucky that they didn't meet anyone on the way.

"What?" Percy whispered and Harry 'shh'd' him and ran to the corner of the room. Hopefully, if anyone did check, they might not see the two kids hiding.

"I went to the attic this morning at about 2:30 a.m." Harry started.

"Why?"

"Just for the fun of it."

"Really? You and fun?!" Percy sniggered and Harry glared.

"Just listen! I found this huge box with the name 'Potter' on it." Harry revealed.

Percy sucked in a breath, "No way!"

Harry continued, "I opened it and there was a guitar. A really expensive looking one. Then I found a small book with words for songs written along with lyric sheets. There was also a photograph of my Mum and Dad."

Percy's jaw dropped, "No way!"

"It was black and white and it was moving! I mean my parents were laughing and there was wind everywhere _in the photo_!"

"No way!"

"I have it here." Harry removed the slightly crumpled photo and smoothened it out. Percy took it and stared at it with wide eyes. "No way!"

"Look at the back." Harry said flipping it. Percy saw the words just before they began to swirl around.

"See! It say, 'JamesPotter&LilyEvans4eva'!" Harry whispered fast.

Percy gulped and said, "No way!"

"Will you stop saying that? It's irritating." The older boy grumbled. Percy looked at the two people and said, "I was thinking that we could go into a photo shop and get this in colour, but I think the guy would freak out."

Harry sighed, "Yeah, I wish there was a date, at least."

"They look like they're seventeen or eighteen. What kind of dresses are those?" Percy squinted at their outfits. Harry frowned, "Looks like robes to me."

"Is it just me, or are her eyes shaped like yours?"

"She is my mother, so I suppose so…"

Percy let out a laugh, "You're a carbon copy of your Dad! You've got get something from your Mom! Hey we've to show this to Mom! I mean our current Mom. Can you have two Moms?"

Harry sighed, "I think so. But if what Aunt Petunia says is true, then Lily Ev- Lily Potter is dead, right? Then I have only one Mom."

Percy frowned, "Just because she's not with you, doesn't mean she's not your Mom, Harry."

Harry looked at him and nodded. Percy hugged him and said, "I can't wait for school to get over. Mom would be so happy-"

There was a sound of the door opening. Harry covered Percy's mouth pushed them towards the walls. A tall blonde man looked into the room briefly and then went out again.

Harry looked at Percy, "That was luck that our uniforms, skin and walls are pale. But we need to go now."

* * *

Sally was in deep thought as she stared at the photo. Percy and Harry anxiously waited for her verdict. They'd stare at each other from time to time and Percy started to fidget more and more. Harry started to breathe hard and then Sally looked up at them, smiling very brightly. She picked up Harry and spun him around the room. Putting him down, she pulled Percy down too for a group hug. She kept kissing his head.

"They're beautiful, Pumpkin. Look at them! They seem wonderful. Lily looks nothing like Petunia. Thank the Gods!"

"What?!" Both Harry and Percy asked. Sally tried not to change her expression at her slip.

"Oh, come on! Look at this!" Sally exclaimed waving the photo in front of her shocked boys. They hadn't seen her act so giddy in a long time.

"We've have been praying for a miracle like this for… how many years? There is someone up there who loves us!" Sally hugged them again hoping that they would forget about the 'Gods'. Luckily, they didn't ask her again.

"Why is it moving, though?" Percy asked, his voice a bit muffled. Sally laughed and let them go.

"I told you that you're different. This proves that you are different, honey." Sally smiled at Harry and looked back at the man in the photograph. They looked so alike! And the woman was really lovely. He looked warm, kind and caring. Everything her sister was not.

"It's like there's a whole other world out there for me." Harry mumbled.

Percy tilted his head, "Does that mean I have another world too? That's so weird."

Sally sighed. She gave the photo to Harry and said, "Never lose it. Whenever I'm not there, look at them. Look at them and imagine them looking at you. Feeling so proud of their little baby. How much he has grown up. They'll love you no matter what. Look at their smiles and imagine them smiling all the time like that at you. Because, they _are_ smiling all the time at you. Whatever you do, they'll be proud to claim you as their son. They'll be proud to be the parents of such a beautiful, bright, young boy. It doesn't matter if they're from a world different from this. Worlds may draw boundaries, but no boundary can cut across a love a parent has for their child. This love is the strongest power in the world. And everyone has it. People might think that what I say is stupid, but it isn't. You do crazy things for the one you love.

"And not just for a lover. A mother, father, brother, sister, cousin, friends… that's what matters, not just doing magic here and there. Making water or plants do what you want may be a skill, but what you hold much deeper inside, that's what important. Look at me. I'm just as normal as you're the next person you see on the street. But you love me, don't you?"

"Of course!" Harry's voice sounded a bit broken. Percy stared at his mother in awe.

"That's real magic. That's what you had with James and Lily." Sally nearly choked.

But her words had done it. Harry stared at the photo and realized, what she said was right.

He had someone who had loved him before he had met Sally and Percy. There was proof.

And that was enough.

* * *

**That was really emotional! On top of that, I was listening to 'In Pieces' by Linkin Park.**

**So stay tuned!**

**Cabba.**


	5. Yet a normal day

**9 reviews! EEEEEEEP!**

**RedRangerBelt: I can't tell ya that, cause that'd be a spoiler! Don't worry, your questions will be answered through the chapters. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Just like you. But if you're Riordan or Rowling…**

**(Author faints)**

**Words - 2172**

* * *

Percy yawned. He turned around in his bed and sighed. His breathe came out like a fog. Percy stared at it until it disappeared. How did that happen? It wasn't winter, yet!

But he felt cold. Quite cold despite the weather. He got up from his bed and looked at the clock. The small hand was at three and the long hand was close to 12. And it was in the middle of the night. Why did he get up at this time? The training had exhausted him. Mom had thought that it was time to extend the time limit to gain greater stamina. And she didn't let Percy to sit in the river or Harry to climb a tree. Those acts always re-energized the two.

Percy reached for his bottle before realizing that it was empty. Really! He had filled it up before going to bed! He did that every night in case he felt thirsty and woke up in the middle of a dream filled sleep.

Percy couldn't recall the dream he had been having. Strange, because his dreams were always… what was the word Harry had said? Vivid.

He let out a breath which went like fog. He shivered and got out the bed and opened his door. Rubbing his eyes, he went straight for the kitchen for a nice glass of water. He filled the bottle to the halfway mark and drank the entire volume before filling it up again.

Percy leaned against the platform and jumped. It was close to freezing. He touched the marble surface and yanked his had back. What was going on? Even as he thought about it, he actually felt the temperature drop.

There was a crackling sound and he stared at his bottle which became a bit heavier. The water turned to ice, its volume increased nearly touching the cap. There was a fine layer of mist like water over it.

There was whisper. Percy ran to the hallway and he stared. There was a small boy on top of the stairs. Percy couldn't see him properly but by the boy's silhouette, he felt that it was someone he knew.

The boy started coming down the stairs. He hobbled a bit as he came down every step. Ad he got closer, Percy backed away. The boy's left arm was twisted badly, his ankle kept bending with every step in the wrong angle. His clothes were torn and he was soaking wet. There was a clanging sound and Percy realized the boy had chains. On his arms and legs, they looked rusted and were broken.

The more Percy looked at the boy, the more things started to appear. His clothes had dark red stains on them and some blood was also dripping along with the water. Percy could see a bit of his skin too now. It was purplish and red as if he'd had a terrible beating.

The boy reached the bottom step and Percy's had his back pressed to the door. His breathing was hard and the fog was starting to dim his vision. But the boy didn't seem to be breathing. He seemed to be younger than Percy. The latter could not see his face and had no wish to. Percy shut his eyes tightly and he heard the words in a whisper, "Get help…"

* * *

Percy gasped. He got up violently, slipped on his grip of the sheets and fell out of the bed. Luckily, he was twisted in his sheets and the fall wasn't so bad. Percy leaned against his bed and put his head in between his legs a, breathing hard. There was no fog. It wasn't cold, but he was sweating. Percy looked at the time. It was six in the morning. He needn't get up till after six thirty, but he couldn't go back to sleep. He turned to look at his water bottle which exactly the same amount of water he had filled it with before going to bed.

He couldn't get the image of the boy out of his head. He hadn't seen his face, but thought that it was better. If the boy looked beaten up, Percy'd hate to see the condition of the face.

Percy buried his head inside his hands unable to stop shivering. And that was how Sally found him 40 minutes later.

"Pepe?!" She dropped his bag and rushed to him. Percy blinked rapidly as he focused on his mother's face.

"What's wrong? Why are you sweating so much? What happened?" Sally fretted, wiping his face with her handkerchief.

"I just had a bad dream." He mumbled. Sally rubbed his back and Percy shuddered.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked. Percy shook his head frantically. Sally sighed, "I think you're burning up, sweety. Maybe you should stay at home."

Percy ducked his head and said, "No. I'll go to school. We have dictation and I think that I can get at least one word right. Harry said that I'm depending too much on probability. I don't know what that means."

Sally tried not to snigger as she kissed his head and said, "I'm making blue pancakes. Come on."

* * *

Percy crawled underneath the bushes, stopping every once in a while to check if anyone could see him. No one bothered to look at the plants during lunch time. He sneaked out and hid behind the water fountain which was too thin to hide even him. He rolled and leaped behind the old unused tables and crouched to look at his destination. The corner table. It was never used by anyone else except for Harry and himself. Apparently, it was infected with their 'freakiness'.

Percy sneaked through the tables and peeped out through a gap. No one paying any attention to the place. At least, not everyone. Percy noticed that Dudley and his gang were watching the table carefully.

Percy groaned.

"My thoughts exactly."

Percy jumped and spun around to see Harry, a few feet away from him, staring at Dudley through another gap.

"You scared me!"

"Not my intention." Harry said brusquely. He scanned the entire area and frowned. "I think we should eat inside."

"Why?" Percy grumbled.

"Precaution. Let's go." Harry took Percy's hand and pulled him all the way back to where he had started. They somehow slinked back to the double doors before an egg hit Harry elbow. It cracked and left the soggy mess on his shoes.

There was a roar of laughter and as the two boys turned around, more things started flying towards them. Lettuce leaves, tomatoes, a shoe and a spoon which struck the door, narrowly missing them. In fact, nothing hit them.

Dudley glared at them and shouted, "Look who's running away, as usual!"

Everyone in the ground started laughing again and Percy muttered, "That wasn't even funny."

"Hey, Potter! Look at this!" An older boy reached down and pulled out the grass and the volume of laughter increased. Harry's face was void of all emotion and Percy knew that it was his 'shut down' expression.

"Oh no! What did you do, Cole?! Now you're going to get him all sobby!" A high pitched girl shrieked. Her gang started laughing too.

Percy sniggered. 'Sobby' was the last thing Harry would ever do.

"Awww! Is the little princess gonna cry? Maybe Mummy will give him another girly bracelet to wear!" The boy, Cole, threw the grass in Harry's direction and took a step forward only to fall flat on his face.

His shoe-laces were tied together.

"Cool. Do that to everyone." Percy whispered and Harry gave a small nod.

"Cole!" The girl got up only to scream and fall down too. Soon, nearly everyone was shouting as they all fell down.

"Let's go." Harry said and pulled on Percy's hand, but the latter didn't move. Percy was staring across the ground of staggering people and through the iron fence. Harry turned to see what he saw.

It was a really large and tall man. Very tall. He wore a trench coat and hat like some private eye detective. He was motionless as he stared at them.

Harry and Percy couldn't see his face. Percy felt a slight déjà vu as he gaped at the man.

"Come on." Harry tugged on his arm again and pulled him into the building.

* * *

That evening, Harry had kept up his grumbling ever since they'd left the optician's with simple, inexpensive glasses. They were black and circular exactly like his father's. Aunt Petunia had out right refused to do anything about it and so Sally had to see to it. Harry wasn't mad at Sally, he was a bit off at the fact that he had to wear them. Internally, he felt a bit light in his chest at having to do something his father had done, but he wished that it wasn't glasses. It felt so weird with a constant light weight on the bridge of his nose.

Sally had said that he looked like the most, 'adorable little Pumpkin Munchkin' she had ever seen.

That had nearly made him remove the glasses and throw it so far that it'd reach China.

"It suites you, Harry. Now you really look like your Dad. All that's left is to smile, make your dimples appear and you will look ex-act-ely like your Dad." Percy had consoled him. To tell the truth, that did made him feel better.

And now, they were in the forest, waiting for Sally to pick them up. She had said that she'd be late from the convenience store and the forest was actually the safest place for them.

Percy's eyes were crossed as he tried to focus on the bright orange butterfly, with black patterns on its wings, which had settled itself on his small nose. Harry had his favourite book, Artemis Fowl, spread out on his lap with a baby squirrel on his head. The tail kept swishing at his hair as it tried to stare at the book. There were a few other animals simply lounging around them. Two rabbits were on either side of Percy watching him stare at the butterfly and a large frog sat on Harry's knee and a garden snake was coiled around his arm. There were a few birds twittering around them.

"Achoo!" Percy sneezed and all the animals scattered. Harry blinked when he realized that they had all run away and looked at Percy.

"Did you just sneeze?"

"I..uh..what's the word for breathing in…?"

" 'Inhale'?" Harry asked leaning against a tree. The tree root tried to wrap itself around Harry's waist and he slapped it away.

"Yeah…I inhaled butterfly dust. It looked sparkly." Percy said sheepishly. Then he frowned.

"Tell your snakes to stay near you and not me." He picked up the garden snake which had slithered towards him and handed it to Harry. Harry nodded and hissed to the snake. The snake stuck out its tongue, hissing back. It curled itself on his hand again.

"It's so creepy to see you hissing." Percy said picking up one of the rabbits and patting its fur. Harry frowned, "Hissing? What are you talking about?"

Percy looked up in surprise, "You hiss to the snake, don't you?"

"No, I talk to it."

"Harry, you hiss to the snake."

"No, I'm talking plain English to him."

"This one's a boy, huh? Last one was..uh…never mind! Don't distract me! You hiss, Harry! Like a language. Sometimes you repeat a certain hissing sound. Something like 'Saaheyewwwwww'."

"What on God's green Earth does that mean?" Harry asked baffled.

"I don't know! You tell me!" Percy retaliated.

"Does it really sound like hissing? I didn't realize that." Harry said. He turned to the snake and asked, '_This tongue what we speak in, do you know how it sounds to other humans?_'

'_No offence, strange human, but I do not know_.'

This time Harry heard it. The underlying tones of hissing which surrounded every syllable. Harry looked at Percy who was making some chirping sounds to a small beaver on the opposite bank of the river. The beaver sniffed and crossed the river staring intently at the two human boys. It looked at the snake and then settled itself next to Percy who ran his fingers along the fur.

"You're right, Percy. I-"

Percy turned to look at Harry, "You're admitting that I'm right? This is not good. Pigs are flying!"

"To me it sounds like English!" Harry said rolling his eyes. Percy shook his head, "Weird."

"Kodak moment!"

SNAP!

Harry and Percy blinked at their mother who smiled at them. She showed them their photo. Harry had an amused face as he stared at Percy whose smile was infectious. They were sitting in the tall grass next to the large river with two rabbits, a beaver, a snake, a squirrel, a frog and a few birds around them.

Sally sighed as she looked at the snake. The snake looked back at her and uncoiled itself. It hissed a goodbye to Harry and slithered away.

"It wasn't poisonous, was it?" Sally asked. Harry shook his head, "A harmless garden snake."

She smiled and said, "I'm framing this. Come on. Let's go home."

* * *

**Yet another normal day for them.**

**Stay tuned!**

**Cabba.**


	6. Of burning memories like fire

**Aw! Only six reviews? Still, they made me feel great!**

_**RedRangerBelt**_** – I think you misunderstood me. Percy didn't dream about the stranger. He felt the déjà vu because it reminded him of the dream with the small boy. How the both of them wouldn't show their face and yet looking at him. The small boy is actually an important part. But he won't be mentioned for a while… No dementors!**

_**Biblioholic**_** – No, not Poseidon. He'll make his appearance later…**

_**E J ect**_** – Yup, just another normal day. They have lots of normal days.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HP series.**

**Words – 2232**

* * *

Cristy. Beautiful Cristy. It was the second best place, in Harry's opinion. The beach looked as lovely as ever and tomorrow was his eight birthday. He pushed his glasses up and got up from the seat by the window of their beach cabin. Sally was watching a film, Freaky Friday. Knowing how the teenage mind and the mind of an over worked mother was (as she had lived through it) she could understand both sides of the movie.

Harry fiddled with his glasses. Yes, now it was a definite part of his life. He felt comfortable with it. He'd clean at specific times and would always try to keep it in pristine condition. Well… as much as he could, that is. Ignoring the fact that when Dudley had once thrown it out the window, when Aunt Marge's dog and nearly chewed it, when the blokes at school had hidden it under the shelf and when one of the snakes he had befriended had tried to swallow it, it was in a very good condition.

Percy had never made fun of it. Harry was glad about that, but at times he felt that the younger boy was fit to burst out laughing when Harry would sit and do his homework, with all those books spread out. Percy called it 'Nerdifiying.' He named the process 'Nerdification'. He was just being the model, younger brother. Harry actually appreciated Percy's sense of wit. It was a welcome change to what made them different from the people around them.

He sighed. He wished he had his guitar. Mum had not allowed him to bring it for the beach trip saying that there was a ton of other ocean stuff to do. She then brought Percy into the conversation whose wise words convinced Harry to leave his mothers guitar back home. Sally had actually agreed to let Percy and Harry learn the guitar. It was a wonderful experience.

They had learned different strings, E, B, G, D, A and E`. They learned about the open string techniques, chromatic notes with lower, middle and higher octaves. Then they went onto C-major and C-minor notes. They had to practice straight and jumping notes and then hadn't even started on proper songs yet!

It was a good stress reliever. Mum had told them to write songs to vent out instead of keeping diaries. Though she had suggested that too, Percy had outright refused. Although, Harry wasn't too against it. He couldn't wait to get to mixed notes and then the chords.

Harry stared at the waves glinting in the bright sunlight. It was midday and a bit too hot to enjoy the ocean. Usually, the people who didn't want to tan would use that excuse, but since none of the three ever got a tan, Harry supposed that Mum had said that only to make sure they rested in the afternoon before going to the beach.

He sighed and got up to get some cold water from the fridge in the make do kitchen, which wasn't really a kitchen. It was just a place with an oven, a small fridge, a fruit basket, some snacks on the shelf and a sink.

Harry took a large gulp and kept the water in his mouth. Fact was that, people shouldn't drink cold water just as it was. They should keep it in their mouths for the temperature to adjust before swallowing. Sally would never allow otherwise.

Harry was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't realize that Percy was in the kitchen too. Harry nearly dropped the bottle.

Percy was kneeling on the stool, with his head under the water in the sink wearing what looked like a scuba nozzle. He was breathing in and out through the equipment making snorkeling noises.

Harry closed his mouth and walked back to the main room.

"Mum?"

"Yeah, Pumpkin?"

"Percy's… uh…I think you should see it for yourself."

Sally looked at Harry curiously and followed him to the small kitchen. Her jaw went a little slack.

"I don't think he remembers that he can breathe underwater. But if he can remember that, then he doesn't know the fact that the ocean is right outside." Harry whispered.

Sally gathered her thoughts and asked, "Pepe? What are you doing?"

"Breathing." He answered, his voice a bit distorted. Harry coughed cynically.

"But why are you doing that in the sink?" Sally pressed.

"Practicing for the real thing. I want to dive underwater later." Percy replied.

Harry nodded, "Yes, he forgot that he can breathe underwater."

* * *

"I can't believe that you're already eight. And Pepe is going to turn eight in a few weeks. I feel so old!" Sally said.

Percy looked up in disbelief. He was sitting in the water along with Harry in his swim shorts while Sally was beside them in a one piece swim suit. They were enjoying the morning sunlight which was soft and warm against their skins.

"Mom! You're…uh…wait a sec…" Percy started muttering to himself and then said triumphantly, "25 years old! Don't worry! You still look like those other girls and ladies in that magazine of yours!"

Sally blushed. "You read my magazines?!"

"No, but I do see some of those stupid dresses. They're always funny."

Harry, meanwhile, glared at two men who were staring at Sally. They looked at him and continued their game of Frisbee.

"You're quite lovely, Mum. And not too many people look quite as fit as you at 25." Harry said looking back at the ocean horizon, digging into the sand, hoping to get a small creature.

Sally's face turned red. "Thanks, honey." She hugged the both of them briefly before hearing a thump behind her. The three of them turned around to see a brown Frisbee on the sand.

"Sorry about that. Didn't mean to scare you." A man in his late twenties jogged up to them. He was brunette, had brown eyes, a healthy tan, a bright smile and was bare chested.

Sally briefly remembered Poseidon, but the thought faded when he winked at her. She shrugged at him and said, "It's alright."

Sally turned back to the water, hoping he'd leave, but then he said, "You have a different accent. Are you from the States?"

"Uh… yes." Short answers would make him think that she was playing hard to get. But if she continued, then he'd think that she was interested in having a conversation with him. She brushed her hair back, making sure to let her ring glint in the light. Luckily, the man saw and said, "Well, bye then."

She just shrugged as an acknowledgment and turned to look at her two kids. Honestly, she hadn't thought the ring would even reflect properly, seeing that the stone was unoriginal.

"Do people do that? He came here, clearly liking you, even though we were sitting right here." Harry said frowning. Percy glared at the group and said, "I'm glad he didn't push it. I'd hate to put spicy seasoning in his food after adding tobasco sauce. I wonder where that thought came from?"

"I wonder that, too. There must be a reason for that thought to cross you mind, Percy." Harry said, putting on an attentive expression. Percy pretended to realize an important fact.

"Probably because it must be carried out!"

Harry clapped his hands, "Of course. Brilliant, Percy!"

"Why thank you, Harry." Percy said, drawing up like a gentleman during the early 19th century.

Sally fell in the water, laughing. Who said that your knight in shining armour had come and sweep you feet with a kiss? These two angels were enough for her.

* * *

"Don't leave the cabin, alright? I'll be back in 15 minutes top. Bye." Sally blew a kiss to them and closed the door. It was a bright afternoon and so she put on her shades. She liked them. They were stylish, lean, dark framed, not too expensive and were chosen by Percy.

"Three blackberry cones, please." She asked the girl behind the counter of the shop which happened to be a beach stall. The girl looked to be in her late teenage years. She had been lazing back on a chair chewing what looked to be a bubble gum. Her hair was dyed green and her black eyes stared at Sally before she jumped up to get the order. Sally enjoyed the coldness that hit her when the door to the refrigerator opened and apparently, so did the girl. She carried out her task slowly and Sally didn't object to it.

"Hello, there!" A deep voice greeted Sally from behind and she turned to see a tall man who fit the characteristic 'tall, dark and handsome' frame. His pale grey eyes looked at her with what she thought was interest.

Really! Why was everyone looking at her today?

"Hi." Sally mumbled looking back at the girl who was staring at the man like a piece of meat. Arghh!

"Excuse me, please." Sally called and the girl blinked and blushed. The man chuckled and said, "My friend had talked to you before, I believe. You seemed annoyed. It's alright. He has that special talent. I'm Earl."

He didn't look like an Earl, but then again, she'd never met an Earl before.

"Your name starts with the letter P, doesn't it?" He asked. Sally looked confused. Where was the conversation going?

"No."

"Aw shucks. I thought it did. 'Cause then, together, we'd be a '_Pearl_'." He said smiling and inclining his head towards her.

It took her a second to get it. When she did, _Gods, that's so lame!_

Sally took the ice cream and paid for it. Turning around to leave, she nearly walked right into him.

"Whoa! Someone's eager." He smirked. She gritted her teeth and walked away.

"Hey, wait up! I just wanted to talk." He said jogging to catch up to her.

Sally tried not to look like he was getting to her, "I'm busy."

"You're going to eat ice cream." Earl pointed out.

"That involves some work, doesn't it?" She said trying not let her voice raise.

Earl laughed, "You've got a good sense of humour. But seriously, you want my help? I could walk to your cabin."

Sally groaned internally and spun around to say 'No' firmly. Unfortunately, he was a bit more stronger than her and he had been moving. They fell, him on her and the ice cream box tumbled out of her hands.

"Oops." He said and smiled at her. Sally glared at him. _That's it_!

Her right knee smashed up between his legs. Instantly, his entire form crumpled as he groaned. His face was a picture of perfect pain and Sally felt deviously satisfied.

"Recherche pour moi et vous me trouverez." She doubted whether he heard her, but she picked up the box, brushed off the sand and walked back to her cabin. (French - Search for me and you'll find me.)

She didn't notice two pairs of eyes watching from her cabin window.

* * *

"Shh!" Harry hissed.

"I'm quiet! Can we please finish this before Mom comes back?" Percy whispered.

They were crouched behind the couch at the front of the huge restaurant as they looked at the waiter coming out of the kitchens with two large plates. One of them was a dish specifically for the man who had actually tried to hit on their mother. Nobody does that except if they have her permission and their keen eyes on him all the time.

Harry concentrated on the waiter's shoelaces.

Percy popped out from behind the couch and said in a fake surprise voice, "Hey! Mister? You're shoelaces are untied. Mine aren't."

The waiter looked down and said, "Thanks, kid." He put the plates on an empty table and bent down. He didn't see the two boys put something in the food and when he looked up, there was nobody there.

Percy and Harry sneaked their way back to their own table only seconds before their mother came out of the Ladies room. She smiled at them and said, "Was I gone too long?"

"Nope. We gave the order right. We even repeated it, so that the man wouldn't get it confused." Harry said.

"Good." Sally looked around her frowned. There was that man, Earl, from the beach. He and his friends were being offered wine. She hadn't realized that the restaurant served that too. Scowling to herself at their customs, she looked back at them just in time to see the man clutch his throat and leap up. He knocked himself into one of his friends who was about to put out his cigarette and the duo fell into the waiter carrying a wine bottle. The bottle crashed onto the floor and broke, spilling the golden liquid all over the sparkling white surface. The cigarette fell on it.

Almost immediately, the entire surface which had been wet, caught fire. It spread to the curtains and then all the table clothes.

People screamed and started rushing towards the exit.

Sally sighed. She'd had been looking forward to nice quiet evening with her sons in a restaurant with her favourite delicacy, Sushi. She stared at Harry and Percy who looked down. She knew it was them. She didn't have proof, but she didn't need it. She slowly put down the table napkin and got up.

"Come on. Let's go to McDonalds."

* * *

**Ah! Just another Cristy beach trip. The end is nearing…**

**Thanks to Alexander Pierce for the correction on Sally's french!**

**The saying is - is someone constantly annoys another, the 'victim' will start reciprocating. **

**Stay tuned!**

**Cabba.**


	7. Never knuckle sandwich your brother

**Sniff. Only 4 reviews? I know for a fact that more than fifty people (that's right, more than fifty) are following this story. You don't have to review for each chapter. But I'd like a little response once in a few chapters. I'd actually love it. So will Percy and Harry!**

**RedRangerBelt : Actually, Harry didn't tie Earl's shoelaces. Earl couldn't handle the spiciness and while flailing around, tripped over his own feet and fell on his friend and waiter. No, Sally won't go on about it. She didn't like Earl, remember? **

**Guest : I love Harry's and Percy's personality too! It sounded great in my head and now, here it is, on screen and in words! **

**Disclaimer: I disclaim PJO and HP. **

**(Yeah, I like it this way, it's shorter.)**

**Words – 2651**

* * *

"It's my turn! Give it to me!" Percy yelled pulling the TV remote towards his side of the couch.

"The advertisements are going on in your channel. It makes more sense to put mine back on!" Harry shouted pulling it towards his side.

Percy whined, "It's not fair. I'm watching a movie about faith, love, devition– "

"It's devotion!" Harry scowled.

"Yeah. I'm watching about the dangerous journey of how a father is re-united with his son and you want to watch a documentary on lions!" Percy bellowed.

"You're watching an animated movie! About fishes! You've seen 'Finding Nemo' a dozen times and lions are so much better than fishes!" Harry yelled.

"You heard what they said; lions sleep 18 hours a day! They hunt small animals and escape humans for the rest 7 hours–"

"6 hours! 18 from 24 is 6, Percy!"

"You're just proving my point! I told you what they do for 6 hours, now will you change to my channel?!"

"No!"

"It's not fair! It's my turn! And look! The advertisements are done and the movie is back on, so Shushhh!" Percy slipped the remote from Harry's grip as the latter sulked and went into the kitchen muttering, "Déloyale. Il a regardé tellement de fois ... Il suffit d'aller dans l'acte!"

(Unfair. He watched it so many times... He can just go act in it!)

Harry has really wanted to know about the luminescent vision of lions in the night. When their eyes glowed in the dark, there were some…stuff that fireflies had, which lit it up. He had no idea what the 'stuff' was called. And now, he'd have to wait for tomorrow's rerun of the episode.

He hated it when they fought like this. He knew it was what Mum called, brotherly quarrels. And in truth, if they had never moved here, he'd never have experienced it, but he did wish they could skip these parts. He knew of Percy's fascination of 'Finding Nemo'. And it not just about fishes.

Harry knew that Percy would like to think that his Dad was searching for him. In the movie, the clownfish, crossed the entire ocean to save his son. Truthfully speaking, when Mum had told them that Percy's Dad had been lost at sea, Harry had suspected some amiss in her words. But he couldn't understand why she would have wanted to lie to them. Or not say the whole truth. The second one seemed most likely. But then he would have come back to her, right? Who would not want a lovely lady like Sally? She was kind and sweet and beautiful and the best mother in the world.

Harry leaned against the kitchen counter, fiddling with the sleeve of his black T-shirt, wondering what to make. Mum had said absolutely no use of knives, forks, stove and oven. He could make a sandwich. The bread was in the fridge. He could couldn't slice the tomatoes, he might have to use spoons. Some lettuce leaves were in the fridge too, weren't they? Could he use an egg? No, Mum said no stove…

* * *

'Love you, Dad.' Little Nemo said smiling up at his father who looked down at him and said, 'Love you, too, son.' The fish then swam on the white ray which than slowly disappeared into the deep blue sea.

Percy smiled. That was the best part of the movie. When his Dad was ready to let him go. He always loved that. He switched back to Harry's channel to see a documentary on eco-buildings. Harry did like documentaries. He said they were the real things and not fake love-shmov stories called movies.

But movies did give a message out there! You just have to wait for 2 to 3 hours to get it. That was the fun!

"Hey, Harry. It's about skyscrapers going green. You'll like it." Percy called.

"I'm coming." Harry's voice became louder and he sat down on the couch with two sandwiches. Percy frowned, "I thought Mom said not to cook anything."

"Completely uncooked." Harry said taking a bite out of it. Percy hesitated before taking the other sandwich and biting into it cautiously. It tasted weird.

He turned to Harry who was munching calmly as if the taste wasn't abnormal. But then again, the guy eats lemons, so this wasn't the strangest thing that Harry had made.

But the sandwich felt like a slap to wake someone up.

"This feels like a punch to the jaw." Percy said, swallowing his portion. Harry shrugged, his eyes trained on the T.V. "My invention. What do you think I should name it?"

"Sucker Punch." Percy said wincing as he took another bite to finish it off. He was eating it not to hurt Harry's feelings. But the taste, if possible, actually worsened.

" That's good. But I was thinking 'knuckle sandwich'. You said it's like a punch to the jaw." Harry told him, putting down his plate. He turned to see Percy's empty plate and a green face.

"Percy?" He called in shock. Percy grimaced and said, "What did you put in it?"

"Tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce leaves, a little pumpkin, slight hummus, cabbage leaves, some cheese and jam for taste and sunflower seeds sprinkled on top. I couldn't heat it, but other than that, it tasted fine, didn't it?" Harry said as if that was the most normal thing in the entire world.

"Oh no!" Percy groaned and laid back. "I ate a mix of vegetables and fruits with cheese, hummus and jam on bread. Somebody save me."

Harry frowned, "Okay, maybe the jam was unnecessary, but the others–"

Percy sprang up and ran to the bathroom. Harry stared open mouthed and followed him.

* * *

"Cheese and jam! Pumpkin, you added pumpkin to a sandwich!" Sally asked flabbergasted as she rubbed Percy's tired back. He had retched his entire lunch out and was still feeling sick.

Harry's pale cheeks had a tinge of pink to it. As far as she had seen, Harry had actually never blushed.

"I didn't think it was that bad." He mumbled.

Sally sighed, "Your body can withstand all kinds of fruits and vegetables in any combination. Percy's can't, so next time you make some bizarre thing like this, don't give it to him, alright?"

Harry nodded. Percy's face still looked green as he threw up again.

It took three days for Percy to recover. Sally wanted to forget those three days. Not just because of the smell, it was because she couldn't bear to see Percy so sick and weak. As a demigod, he actually had a very strong immunity system and the chances of falling sick were very low.

Sally was quite impressed of the way Harry took care of him. He didn't grumble or complain, but diligently catered to every one of Percy's needs and had even thought of pushing the T.V. into his room if he hadn't been hindered by Gabe.

Harry was really the model big brother and he took it upon him to see that Sally could rest before and after going to/coming from work.

She had inadvertently eavesdropped on one of their conversations.

"I didn't know that you'd react so horribly to the knuckle sandwich. Sorry."

"That's the seventeenth time you've apologized. Take a chill pill while I take medicine pills, Harry."

Sally muffled her giggles.

"It was still unprofessional not to think ahead about how you would feel about it."

"Well, you're not a professional sandwich maker. So, it's alright. But you did it because I wouldn't give you the remote, right?"

_Remote?,_ Sally thought.

Harry voice came calmly, "Of course not, I would have made and given you the sandwich even if we had not fought."

Sally heard retching sounds again.

* * *

It took a few weeks for Percy to warm up to the idea of eating fruits and vegetables again. And even then, he'd eat them slowly, nibbling at first to see if the taste was good enough. Harry would make sure none of them had any defects before giving them to Percy. Once the training started again, Percy felt much better and today's riddle was…

"What goes all around the world, but stays in a corner?" Percy muttered to himself. Harry was bent over his homework. He was in grade seven and even then, came top in the class. For an eight year old, you'd think, that was an accomplishment. Harry never studied for tests. Listening in class and doing his homework was enough. He was one of the lucky few kids around the world who could understand every concept with even having to try.

Percy leaned back on the couch and yawned. He stared at the T.V., flipping the channels and stopped at a movie, 'Tangled', where the two animated protagonists where in a boat, singing. Percy snickered and Sally frowned, "It's not funny, Pepe."

"It seems funny. I mean, who sings when they think they're in love?" Percy grinned and his mother ruffled his hair.

"It's just for the movie. But when you do find that one person who you think is all you need in the entire world, you're willing to crazy things just for her." Sally said softly.

Percy looked up, "So, you won't mind if I take Angelina Jolie for a boat ride and sing along with her?"

Sally controlled her facial expression, "Angelina Jolie? I don't know, hon. She has to go through me, if she wants to be with you."

Percy's eyes widened, "But, she's like perfect! I mean, she's real pretty and she's strong and she can fight and I like her hair!"

"Her hair, huh? Well, if you do get to ask her out, you have to bring her home, so that she can meet me."

"Go easy on her." Percy pleaded.

Sally laughed, "Did you know that in the olden days, years and years ago, during the times of kings and queens, the prince could go out to find his love only if the heir is married?"

"Air?"

"The first child of the king. The eldest should be married or be engaged and only then, his brothers and sisters were allowed to fall in love." Sally explained, enjoying the look on Percy's face.

Simultaneously, the both of them looked at Harry who sat at the table with four text books, two library books and a rough note book spread out in front of him as he scribbled something on it. With his glasses and the look of concentration he had as he solved the physics problem, he seemed to be the last person in the world who would fall in love with something else other than books.

Percy's face showed horror as his mother patted his head and said, "Wait until you're at least a teenager before searching for girls, Pepe." She got up and went into the kitchen leaving Percy in a kind of trance.

He jumped up, ran to the table, pulled out a chair and sat right in front of Harry, who looked up, surprised.

"The moment you turn thirteen, you better get a girlfriend." Percy threatened him.

Harry raised an eyebrow, "And what is the accompanying reason behind your _order_, that will be strong enough to convince me of all people to get a girlfriend?"

Sally clapped her hand over her mouth to prevent her laugh from getting out.

" 'Cause I want to sing with Angelina Jolie!" Percy whined.

Sally clutched her stomach.

Harry's other eyebrow, raised up to join its partner. "Yes, Percy. That makes quite a lot of sense."

"Come on! I can get her only if you can get a girlfriend! If you sit with books all day, everyone will run away from you, screaming."

"Everyone runs away from _us_, screaming. They already think that we're freaks, don't they?" Harry corrected. Sally frowned.

"Well, maybe when we grow up, it will all change." Percy said hopefully. Harry snorted and went back to his calculations. Percy sighed. The fingers on his left hand were twitching as if they were on the strings of the Lily Potter's guitar. Sally sat with them on a chair and said, "Tell you what, after the both of you turn thirteen, you can grow your hair."

The sentence was so unexpected that the boys stared at her with equal amounts of confusion on their faces. Sally smiled.

"Not too much. Just enough for it to attract some girls. Maybe even Angelina Jolie." She winked at Percy who blushed.

"Girls like long hair?" Harry asked slowly. Percy rolled his eyes, "Of course, they do! Why do you think they grow theirs?"

"The two of you are already very good looking now. By the time you grow up, you'll need to beat them off if you aren't careful."

Harry looked taken back, "But if we beat them, they won't come near us, will they?"

Sally blinked, "No, Pumpkin, that's not what I meant. It's a figure of speech. Right now, I give you a hair cut every week, don't I? When you're thirteen, we'll just change the schedule."

Harry stared at the table and then shook his head, "I can't believe we're talking about girls. I need to find the focal length of my glasses!"

He went back to his problem as Percy stared at him, "I'm not going to get Angelina Jolie, am I?"

Sally laughed. "There are a thousand fish in the ocean, Pepe."

Percy frowned, "Just because they always make kissy faces to me doesn't mean that I want to kiss them too."

Harry dropped his pencil and went under the table to retrieve it. He didn't come up for a few minutes. Sally buried her face in her hands and with a deep breath, she looked at him again.

"What I meant was that there are thousands of girls out there. When you grow up, take your time and search for the right one."

"Oh. But I am growing up. Look."

Percy showed his teeth, where all 28 teeth were present, white and perfect. Sally tried not to sigh. Eight year olds shouldn't have all 28 teeth. Yet, she could name two exceptions…

Harry emerged from his pencil quest and said, "Not to change the subject, but when's dinner?"

"You are changing the subject!" Percy accused. "In fact, those were the same words that guy on Discovery Channel said about tigresses and cubs."

Percy stopped and hesitated. His eyebrows came together as he frowned and Sally had a feeling that what he was going to ask next would not be good. But before she could get up…

"Mom, where do babies come from?" Percy asked looking up at her. Harry looked up too, slightly curious.

Why didn't she trust her gut?

"Babies are the most innocent beings on this earth. So pure white storks bring them to their parents door-step."

The boys stared at her as if she had gone mad.

"Mom, we're not that young." Percy said.

"Alright, I'll tell you after you turn thirteen." Sally said, getting up.

Harry frowned, "Is it that complicated? I'm sure we can understand. It has something to do with honeymoons, doesn't it?"

Sally's jaw dropped. "Where did you hear that?!"

"That's how it works! People get married, go on honeymoons and nearly a year later, they have a kid." Harry said not understanding why his mother was getting so worked up.

"Is it a special kind of shop where you get babies from?" Percy asked interested. Sally's face turned red and she said, "You're too young to understand. Please, listen to me! I'll tell you when you're older. Now just stamp and push out that thought from your brains, please!"

Harry was quite as he contemplated this as Percy's eyes lit up, "Stamp!"

"What?" Sally and Harry chorused.

Percy looked proud of himself, "The answer to the riddle! It's a stamp!"

* * *

**This was a family bonding chapter with laughs. Hope you laughed! **

**Stay tuned!**

**Cabba. **


	8. From Birthdays to Deals

**Yes! I loved the response I got for the previous chapter. **

_**RandomFan**_** – I didn't exactly understand your query. Could you elaborate?**

_**RedRangerBelt**_** – You'll see. You'll see. You'll see. Yes, the both of them are now officially eight with this chapter.**

_**E J ect**_** – Your Mom knows how to get out of the line of fire!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HP.**

**If anyone has any problems with my disclaimers, tell me.**

**Words – 3165**

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Sally parked the car in the garage. She yawned a bit before getting out. She hadn't planned on staying out so late, but the rain showers had gotten heavier which had caused her to drive more slowly. It was close to 11:30 and there were only two reasons why she had decided to take the boys out.

Gabe was coming back only next morning.

It was Percy's birthday.

Well, it would get over in less than an hour, but he had fun watching the new kids' movie, Shark Tale. It was animated, about fishes, sharks and other sea creatures and Angelina Jolie had a character in it. So, it was a Percy movie. Harry had whispered to Sally the entire time about any practical impossibility.

Fish can't talk.

They can't have cities.

They can't have humanized buildings.

They can't have electricity.

Sharks are not vegetarian.

Sharks don't have opposable thumbs to mummify dead relatives.

Jelly Fish do not have eyes, ears, mouth, stomach or brains.

Sally told him that the movie was animated and therefore fiction. Meanwhile Percy had given an explanation to everyone of Harry's comments.

They can, under water.

They can, under water.

They can, under water.

They can, under water.

They are, under water.

They have, under water.

And you don't have the soft, warm feeling part of your heart, but you're alive, aren't you?

Sally had threatened them with grounding which finally kept them quiet.

Right now her two movie critics were adorably asleep. Percy was spread across the back seat with his head on Harry's lap while the older boy was leaning against the back rest, both of them half-dead to the world. Sally glanced outside again. It was still raining. She could carry them both, but then she wouldn't be able to hold her umbrella. Percy wouldn't catch a cold, but since the knuckle sandwich last week, she wasn't taking any chances with either of them.

Stepping out of the car, she took her umbrella and tried to silently open the door of the back seat. Unfortunately, the tiny 'click' woke Harry up. Sally tried not to sigh. Even if a feather landed on that boy's hair, he'd jerk awake. At least Percy wasn't as light a sleeper Harry was.

"Mum?" Harry rubbed his eyes. Sally unconsciously smiled. How much ever he had changed, he'd always rub his eyes in that cute way when he awoke.

"Shush. Pepe's asleep. Come on." Sally was about to take him in her arms, but Harry leaned back and said, "I'll walk. You have to hold the umbr…brella." He gave a yawn.

Figuring that he would fall asleep within seconds of hitting the sack, Sally nodded and picked Percy up. Harry climbed out and leaned against Sally as she shut the door.

The path was slippery as the storm continued and Sally took out her key, with a little difficulty. The house was eerily silent as if it had been waiting for them.

Laying Percy in his bed after Harry climbed in, she dried a little of Harry's wet hair and kissed him and his brother goodnight. Harry's eyes drooped as he slung one arm around Percy. Sally couldn't help but whisper 'Kodak moment' to herself and take a photo of them.

She went back down to put the umbrella outside when she realized that it was dry. She felt a sight warm breeze flutter through her hair before she caught the scent. That rich smell of the ocean.

She could literally feel his presence. Sally turned around to face Poseidon, himself.

For a moment, she couldn't do anything but stare at him. He hadn't changed a bit. His deep rich eyes, his strong face, his muscular body which could be seen even through the Hawaiian shirt, his posture which was like that of a king's. He was a king.

"Sally, you look beautiful." He said. Sally blinked.

"You come here, after more than eight years to say that I'm beautiful?" She asked skeptically.

Poseidon chuckled, "I've missed you."

Sally wanted to say that she didn't and that her life was fine, thank you very much, but she couldn't.

"What do you want?" She asked before realizing her not so polite tone. Poseidon sighed.

"For you to go back to New York. It's not safe here."

Sally felt the ground tilting. She stumbled back and fell on the couch. "What?!"

"You need to go back! I can't keep an eye on you, if you stay here. I had no idea that you were here. It was like you had disappeared off the face of the world!" Poseidon said urgently.

A hundred questions flew around in her head before she picked one of them, "What do you mean that you didn't know where I was? You sent us here!"

"What? No, I didn't. I kept weekly updates on you and… and Percy and your husband, but you suddenly vanished into thin air. I lost all traces of you!" Poseidon exclaimed.

Sally got up shakily. She placed the camera on the table and said in a forced calm voice, "You're telling me that you didn't win that lottery ticket for us? You didn't make us move across the ocean by ship? You didn't get us a house here? No. 3, Privet Drive? You didn't do any of that?"

Poseidon looked completely confused. For a moment, Sally felt that she was standing in front of a much older version of Percy…

"No. I didn't… I don't know how you got here. All I do know is that, one of my Cyclopes found Percy here." Poseidon said, bewildered.

Sally remembered Harry and Percy telling her about the 'huge man' at school. Cyclopes were large weren't they?

But what really got her heart beating was who had truly sent her here? What was the purpose? What had she accomplished by coming here?

He answer came readily to her lips. Pumpkin.

Poseidon sighed, "Sally, look, I know you haven't made many connections here, so it's easier – "

"No."

The God stared at her, "What?"

"I said, no. I'm not leaving." Sally crossed her arms and stared right back at him. Poseidon looked shocked for a moment before frowning and taking a step towards her.

"Sally, please! Think about your son. It's for him."

"I am thinking about my sons."

"What?" Poseidon had never felt so confused before in his entire existence of the passing millennia. Except when he had first met Sally.

"Your husband's child is not the one in mortal peril here." He said.

Sally glared at him, "I did not have a child with Gabe!"

"Then who is your other son?" he asked frustrated.

"Does it matter? You just want me to separate them, don't you?"

Poseidon felt angry, she was just not making any sense, "You're driving me crazy, Sally! Will you please explain what's happening?"

He had taken another step towards her unknowingly leaving her with no room to go as she was almost pressed against the wall.

_BAM!_

Poseidon nearly lost his balance as a solid force had smashed into him on his shoulder. He staggered back a few steps and looked at his attacker.

Standing in front of a shocked Sally was a small black haired boy who was holding a frying pan and glaring at Poseidon.

"Pumpkin! No puedo creer que lo aciertas! Dame eso!" Sally cried, snatching the pan from him. (Spanish - I can't believe that you hit him! Give me that!)

The boy continued to glare at the God before he faltered. "Are you Percy's father?"

Poseidon looked at the young boy whose dark glittering green eyes stared at him coldly. He was much too young to have a serious expression like that.

"Yes."

"But… Mum you told us that you were dead."

Poseidon looked back at Sally at first feeling angry before realizing that she had every right to say so.

"Pumpkin, I – "

"What's your name?" Poseidon asked sparing Sally. The boy looked at him and said, "Harry Potter."

Sally felt a slight flash-back with those words except, instead of Poseidon, it was Triton.

"You look tired; maybe you should sleep for a while." Poseidon said softly.

Harry blinked. It seemed like a good idea. The man didn't seem so bad. If he was Percy's father, he couldn't be that bad, could he?

Harry rubbed his eyes, muttered, "Okay." And wobbled to the couch where he fell on face down on it. Poseidon straightened up and turned back to Sally who glared at him. Her grip around the pan tightened and she raised it threateningly in the exact same posture as Harry had.

"Did you _make_ him fall asleep?" She slowly walked towards him and Poseidon felt scared. A small part of him laughed that he was afraid of a mortal woman. The rest of the large part was quivering with fear.

"Uh…Okay, Sally, let's just calm down, shall we?" Poseidon knew better than to _make_ her relax.

_Please don't throw the pan, please don't throw it! I may be a God, but it isn't a pillow!_

Sally's nostrils flared, but she lowered the pan and said, "I understand. You're making me choose, aren't you?"

"What?" Poseidon asked. Seriously, how many times had he asked that within the span of an hour?

"Between my sons! To keep Pepe safe, I have to go back to New York and to keep Pumpkin safe I have to stay here!"

"Pumpkin? Oh, yeah, him. You call Percy, Pepe?"

"Don't like it? Well, maybe you should have stopped me when I started calling him that. Oh wait, you weren't there! Arghh! I can't blame you! It's that stupid law! Tell me the truth, did you ever want to visit your son?" Sally beseeched.

"Of course, I wished it every day!" Poseidon exclaimed.

"Now, I don't believe in coincidences, but do you know what's special today? Is that why you came?" Sally asked sighing and running her fingers through her hair. Poseidon stared at her hand and then brought himself back, "I think it was a coincidence."

Sally snorted, "There are no such things as coincidences."

Poseidon inhaled deeply and asked, "May I please see him? I won't wake him up?"

"See whom?" Sally asked in a mock polite tone.

"Percy." He sighed.

"Percy?"

Poseidon rolled his eyes unable to fight off the smile, "Percy Jackson, son of Sally."

Sally almost smirked, "You missed something else." She looked at Harry and back at her ex-lover.

Poseidon blinked, "May I please see Percy Jackson, son of Sally Jackson and brother of Harry Potter?"

"Yes, you may." Sally flourished her hand towards Percy's room and grinned. He still remembered their old joke.

Poseidon smiled as he walked. That was why he had fallen for her. She was able to cheer him up when he was ready to cause Tsunamis and earthquakes over the world. Her words could make him feel confused; they could make him as giddy as a young teenager.

Unlike a few of the previous women, Poseidon felt that Sally had truly been able to bring out a side which no one had ever touched. Yes, mortals had their own branch of power that no God could ever take.

And when he saw the angelic result of his love for Sally, he felt that everything had been right when he was with her. There had been a number of times when he had wished to be a normal mortal. And he had wished them only when he was around her.

Poseidon stroked his son's hair as he watched Percy sleep. Poseidon had been there out of Sally's sight, when she had given birth. He had found himself wishing that the baby would have her beautiful pale blue irises which could reflect every colour giving the illusion that the eyes where multi-coloured.

He knew that Percy had inherited his own colour and shape. The child looked so much like him. From the black hair locks of hair to the curve of the lips, from the arc of the ears to the shape of his fingers.

Poseidon realized that the child was thinner than normal. But firm. His arms didn't have any puppy fat, his stomach looked quite flat for an eight year old and his cheeks were firm. You couldn't pinch them easily. Harry's were the same. Poseidon recollected the other boy's form. He looked quite similar to Percy. Not in the facial features. But in the way the boy had fallen asleep. The way the shoulders had come down in his relaxed state and how the stiffness had disappeared.

They could pass of as brothers. Sally did consider Harry to be her son. May be they were raised as brothers.

They were fit. To be fit at this age, he knew that Sally had trained them. How could she not, when she knew what was in store for Percy. She herself knew how to defend herself and she had gone for ballet classes with her sister when she had been young.

Poseidon missed Kimberly. She had had a good sense of humour.

"You're a leader. A born leader. For now, train. Happy Birthday. " Poseidon whispered and kissed Percy head as he murmured a blessing.

He turned around to see Sally at the door holding Harry.

"How is he related to you?" Poseidon whispered.

"He's my son. Any more stupid…oh, I mean, Godly questions?"

Poseidon forced himself not to laugh.

Sally sighed, "I just wanted to care for him, since his own family hated him. His parents are dead, but I'm sure they loved him. I'm making sure he knows what love is. He'll figure it out someday."

Poseidon stared at the pair as Sally laid Harry next to Percy and brought the comforter closer around them.

"You have to choose." Poseidon whispered sullenly, when he realized that Sally loved both the children equally.

He looked at her to see her deep in thought. She was going to make a deal. She had that expression when she was able to bargain out for a shell necklace on one of their dates. She had practically gotten it for free. Later, she had thrown it at him, after he had revealed that he was the God of the Seas.

"Pumpkin is strong. He can take care of himself. He may never forgive me, but if I am leaving, I will need something in return."

Poseidon hated making promises with Sally. Not in general, just with her. But Percy's safety was incalculable and so he asked, "What do you want, Sally?"

"Not want, need. I need the Knives of Nyx."

There was silence for a few seconds before, Poseidon blurted for the umpteenth time, "What?!"

"Shush!" Sally pulled him out of the room and closed the door.

"You heard what I said. I need the Knives of Nyx. Though I think it's more of a pair of daggers."

Poseidon tried to steady his breathing, "I gave you a dagger! A celestial bronze one – σκοτάδι. You know how long it took me to get that? I have no idea how you knew about it and now you need the Knives of Nyx!"

"I had a dream, Poseidon." Sally said. She looked at him straight in the eyes because she knew that he couldn't refuse her.

"But…I – you can't just…uh…please Sally, that could take weeks!" Poseidon hissed.

Sally smiled sadly. "If you're making me leave, don't you think I should leave Pumpkin with a weapon?"

"He's young." Poseidon said weakly.

Sally's eyes narrowed, "He's eight, FYI, older than our son! By two and a half weeks! He's much more mature and I'm sure if you give him a weapon, he'll be able to take down an army. Without anyone's help!"

Poseidon's mouth was slightly open, "Sally, h – how did you raise them?"

"As a mother and a mentor for survival. He's not completely mortal."

Poseidon sighed, "Yes, but… he has a shield, that's why I can't sense him, properly. He's not a demi-god. Sally, he's not from our world."

"No!" Sally gasped placing her hand against her heart. The sarcastic tone was dripping from her answer.

"You didn't adopt him, did you?"

"No. He's our neighbor. At house no. 4" Sally pointed out the window towards the Dursleys' home. Poseidon stared and said, "Isn't that no. 5?"

"No. I'm pointing to the one right here!" Sally said pulling the curtain for them to see the house. Poseidon felt wary. "I can't see it, I…wait!"

He squinted his eyes and focused hard through the window and said, "You're right!"

"You couldn't see it before?" Sally asked worried. How could she see something so easily that even concealed itself from the Gods? It must be the shield.

"No. Sally, he's neither a mortal nor demi-god. I sure he isn't a monster either, but that makes him even more unpredictable."

Sally stubbornly said, "He won't hurt me or Pepe, if that's what you're implying. Either you give me the Knives of Nyx, or I'm staying here."

Poseidon had about a dozen ways to deviate the topic but he knew that Sally would have a hundred more ways to bring them back to the terms of her deal.

"I'll see." Poseidon said, frowning. "After you get the knives, you have one month. I can't give you any more time. The Gods are sensing activity from this part of the world. It's Hermes that we'll have to fear. It's in his nature to pick up any thought or request from non-mortals."

"A month?" Sally whispered.

"I'm sorry, but – " Poseidon began but she interrupted him.

"I know you'll get the knives. And I also know that they will meet again in the future. They'll learn secrets and have more of their own. But will you give Harry permission to enter the Camp when I ask?" Sally asked doubtfully.

Poseidon hesitated, "It depends on what he is. If he is officially not a threat by any standard to any of the children or Gods, then I'll see."

"You'll see?"

"Things can change with time, Sally. You know that."

"Of course, I do!" She snapped. Poseidon smiled sadly, "I must go."

Sally closed her eyes and nodded. She felt his warmth near her cheek and when she opened her eyes, he was gone.

The silence was so thick that the sound of the clock striking twelve, made her jump. Midnight!

She checked in on the boys before heading up to bed to let her mind process all that had happened in 24 minutes. Her mind and heart felt heavy. She couldn't bear to leave Harry. He'd be alone. He might even close out everyone. It wasn't hard to picture him like that.

Sally laid her head on the pillow and felt her eyes burning. Yet no tears came. She'd have to make do with what she got. Harry. Percy. One month.

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**Yeah, my longest chapter yet. Hope it was good!**

**Stay tuned!**

**Cabba. **


	9. Stupid Pencil Grips and Awesome Daggers

**The ninth chapter. We're so close to the end! I loved all the reviews and the guessings, but you're going to have to read to find out.**

**The comment about me updating every day? It made me blush like crazy. I'm rather free this time of the year and so I had a few chapters already written in draft. I might not update for a day or two sometimes, but you'll get at least two updates per week! (Pst! **_**Her Choices**_** is going to get over this week!)**

_**RedRangerBelt**_** and **_**theHuntress101**_** – All your questions are going to be answered in this story and I give no spoilers. **

_**paili-chan**_** –The suggestion you put forward isn't as straightforward as you make it sound, in my story. Gabe won't have a choice in moving to New York or staying back. Yes, you will find out who brought the Jacksons and Ugliano to London. Soon… **

**Oh, and comment about the new story image!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the HP or PJO series.**

**Words – 2936**

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The end of August saw Percy being expelled. Sally tried to think positively. _At least they hadn't arrested him._

It started with the pencil grip. Percy used them to hold the pencil properly in his fingers. During class, when he put it down to erase something, it rolled out.

How can pencils with pencil grips roll off?

It fell down and rolled itself next to the closed door. Percy frowned and looked around for it; unfortunately, he couldn't see it. He had to use his spare pencil which didn't have the pencil grip.

It slipped from his hand because he had put too much pressure on it as he wrote every letter as carefully as he could. The pencil flew and hit the frame of the open window. The pigeons sitting outside squawked as half of them tried to fly away and the other half flew inside the room to escape the 'threat'.

Why were the windows, open?

Ten minutes of chaos was followed by Percy finding his first pencil. He dropped to his knees and crawled towards the door, trying to escape screaming kids, pigeons, their droppings and the teacher who sounded the most hysterical.

Percy tried to pull the pencil, but the small part which acted as the grip had wedged the entire pencil in the gap between the door and the ground. Percy gave a terrific pull and the door slammed open, hitting Piers Polkiss, Dudley's best friend squarely in the face.

The noises from the room then echoed everywhere into the hall, where other classrooms finally opened their doors too. Percy got up and stared at his class. Many were crying, a few were actually swearing (including the teacher) and Percy seemed to be the only one not harmed.

The Principal had run in just in time for one of the pigeons to do its business on his fresh new suit.

The man shouted out some words that Smelly Gabe used in his everyday vocabulary. Percy had a feeling that something worse was about to happen. He walked backwards and slipped on the newly waxed linoleum floor of the hallway and his pencil flew straight in to the opposite wall. Unbelievably, it struck the small red button for the fire alarm. (Yes, it had crashed through the glass and then impaled itself on the button).

What followed was nothing short of pandemonium. The emergency water sprinklers turned on and a janitor, pulling a huge cart of books up the stairs was startled. He lost his grip on the rail and Percy jumped to grab the cart. Due to the shock in the jerky motion, the books flew out (notice how many things are flying?) and smacked right into the lunch lady and the librarian (a rare friendship). Then it was their turn to fly into the doors of the Gymnasium, a floor below.

Percy in gulped at let go of the cart which joined them, moments later. He turned around to yank the pencil out from the bell and fell into the Principal and the both of them went tumbling into another man, who turned out to be the School Inspector of their district.

When they had finally gotten rid of all the pigeons, everyone automatically turned to Percy. It was like they had rehearsed it.

* * *

Sally, Percy and Harry were rather quiet as they ate their salad in McD. Percy who had been pushing his food around looked up like he had finally got the guts to look at his mother and say, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. How many times do I have to say that? You didn't like the school that much anyway, I'll search for another one, Pepe." Sally comforted him. Harry frowned. She was taking this much less seriously. It was like she had expected this to happen.

"It just slipped out of my hand." Percy mumbled. He pressed his fork into the curved side of the half lemon and accidentally forced the lemon to fly diagonally upwards. Harry immediately shot his hand and caught it.

Percy blushed and dropped his fork on the plate. Sally rubbed his shoulder and looked just in time to see Harry about to squeeze the lemon into his salad.

"Pumpkin, you already used the other half, I know you love lemons, but this is getting to be too much." Sally chided him and Harry sighed as he dropped it into Percy's plate.

"It was just my luck that the Inspector had to come today." Percy said.

Harry gave him a look that might have indicated pity in the vaguest of terms, "At least you didn't blow up the building. That could have been plausible."

Sally face-palmed as Percy banged his head on the table.

* * *

Percy kicked a stone across the river. Harry turned a page of his current favourite book of the week – Sherlock Holmes. Crescent Forest wasn't as thick and dangerous everyone had thought it to be. Though, the grass was tall, the river was wide, the trees were thick and animal resided in the nooks and corners, it was perfect for Harry and Percy who wished nothing more but to stay there all day and learn the secrets of the world.

Alright, that might have been exaggeration.

"I'm bored!" Percy said for the fifth time and Harry shut his book and looked up.

"I'm out of ideas, Percy. What would you want me to do?" Harry said getting up. He balanced the book on a low tree branch and jumped across the river.

"A race!" Percy said his eyes gleaming. Harry frowned, "To the house? You want to go back already?"

"No, I mean to the edge of the woods!"

"Mum said not to go there."

"Aha! Mom said not to go there alone. You're with me and I'm with you. Hence, we're not alone."

Harry rolled his eyes, "You know perfectly well that Mum said not to go alone together."

Percy stuck out his tongue, " 'Alone' and 'together' should not be used together. It's confusing."

"As strange as it sounds, they can be used together –"

"And alone?"

"And separate. There isn't a grammatical or semantic error that I see."

"Which means that there is no error. What does 'error' actually mean? "

"A mistake, inaccuracy, blunder, fault –"

"Okay, okay, you dictiory!"

"The word is dictionary. But you actually wanted to refer me to a thesaurus."

"I don't think you're a dinosaur!"

"It's not a dinosaur! It's a book of reference for –"

"Does it look like I wanna know?"

"Well, no…"

"This, hands down, has been the weirdest and most annoying conservation, ever!"

"You mean 'conversation'."

Percy groaned and plopped down in a cross-legged posture on the grass.

"I'm bored! You don't wanna play or race or at least keep the con-ver-sation in my level. Not everyone is as smart as you!"

Harry sat down and looked at his younger brother, "I'm sorry, Perce. It's just that I'm getting a bad feeling. Like something bad is about to happen."

Percy looked up in concern, "Real bad. Worse than me being expelled? Worse than us being outcasts? Worse than us being freaks?"

"We're not freaks!" Harry snapped and then put his head in his hands.

"Sorry, I know you hate that word." Percy mumbled. Harry looked at him and asked, "Have you ever noticed anything strange, lately? I mean stranger than everyday stuff that happens to us?"

"Dreams are not counted, right?" Percy asked.

"You have dreams every night, Percy."

"Yeah, but sometimes they're really scary. Like this kid I keep seeing."

"What kid?" Harry asked frowning.

"Well…" Percy shifted clearly uncomfortable. Harry waited.

"I see him nearly every night, I mean in my nightmares. I wake up to get a drink of water or to just walk or I just walk up at times and he's just there. Just there walking towards me asking for help. But I can't move because it's just so…"

"Have you seen him before? Around here?" Harry asked. Percy shook his head and wrapped his hands around his knees, looking smaller than he already was.

"It's horrible. He's little. Like four or five. And there's blood and water dripping from him. His clothes are always torn and he has these chains. When he walks, he drags it and he limps so badly. His arm's broken and I actually feel the pain, sometimes. In my dream, it's always so cold. Like ice is on the floor and I can actually see my breath."

Percy shuddered and lowered his head. He didn't see Harry freeze up and almost fall back. He didn't see Harry screw up his face, clenched his eyes shut and grab his hair as if about to rip it out.

The grass, plants and trees, as one, leaned back as if he had been giving out a repulsive aura. He might as well have. Harry's body was shaking as if he was about to scream or explode or both.

There was silence as Percy tried to breathe normally to forget the images his own words had brought forth, while Harry tried to come back to reality from the memories that Percy's words had triggered violently.

Five seconds passed and all the living things relaxed. The sunlight felt warmer on their white skins as Percy raised his head to look at a calm Harry gazing into the depths of the shallow river.

"They're just dreams, Percy." The older boy said, his voice void of any emotion. Percy noticed this and mentally swore never to bring up the dream again.

"Let's race." Harry said unexpectedly. Percy's head snapped up and he stared Harry. "But you said that Mom said that we shouldn't."

"I can foresee that this conversation is going to be as peculiar as the last, not excluding the fact that we're on the opposite sides of the argument." Harry grumbled.

"Huh?"

"Let's just go home."

Harry stood up and Percy raised his hand for the former to grab and hoist. "Can I have a piggy back ride?"

Harry stared at him, completely nonplussed, "What?"

"Come on! You're always betting that you're stronger than me, so prove it. Give me a piggy back ride." Percy said wishing with all his might that Harry would comply.

They stared at each other and then Harry said, "I can prove that I'm stronger by picking you up and tossing you into the river."

"That won't hurt me." Percy said. Harry shrugged, "Exactly why I would choose to do that. I'd never hurt you, Percy."

"Thanks!" Percy said brightly.

Harry turned to walk away but Percy asked, "No piggy back ride?"

Harry turned around and then wished he hadn't. Percy was pouting and his eyes were big and doe-like. He looked down, his shoulders slumped looking defeated. "It's alright. If you don't want to –"

"Fine." Harry said both irritated and amused. Percy perked up immediately and jumped onto his brother's back, "You're the best brother ever."

Harry let out a disapproving noise, but Percy knew that harry appreciated the compliment. He tried to wrap his legs around Harry waist and slung his arms across the shoulders.

Percy was quite light. Harry didn't find it to be that much of a burden. He frowned to himself as he avoided a few twigs. Either Percy was skipping to many meals or Harry was actually stronger than he himself thought.

But at this age, it should not have been possible for Harry to carry Percy with the ease he showed.

Percy let out a chuckle as they passed two sparrows who flew close to them, their wings ruffling his hair.

"Did you feel that, Harry?" He asked excitedly as they neared the house. Harry couldn't help but show the smallest of smiles on his lips just as they heard a familiar 'click'.

"Kodak Moment." Their mother said. She had been standing in the backyard, looking through the gate. Her camera was in her hand as she should them the latest picture. Harry thought that actually looked photogenic in this one.

"This pose is nice and all, but why are you carrying Pepe?" She enquired. Harry shrugged and let Percy down, who instantly checked their photo.

Harry frowned. His shoulders or muscles weren't aching. But he had walked for a good 15 minutes…

"I have something to tell you both." She said and led them into the house. Upon entering through the kitchen door, Harry saw an opened box with something glinting at a point.

Sally went and lifted a beautiful, long knife. Its blade was about a foot long and looked deadly. It had an expensive looking custom-made handle.

It looked old-fashioned. Like it was a part of some buried treasure.

"Skothos." Sally said.

It sounded exotic, the way she said the word. Harry decided that it was an older form of a current language.

She handed him the blade and he felt surprised by the heaviness. He held it firmly by the handle and saw that it fit him precisely. It was well balanced and the weight was perfect. He almost felt the urge to use it in any situation.

"It's yours." She said and Harry blinked. This magnificent dagger was his?

Sally reached in took another knife which looked exactly the same, save for the way the blade reflected. It went in different colours before settling for sea-green because Percy's eyes widened as he saw it.

"Oneiro." She said and let Percy take the dagger with an awed expression. He swung it around expertly as he had when she let him use her dagger for practice.

"Dream." Percy said and he looked confused for a second.

Harry immediately looked at Sally whose change in expression told him that Percy had just translated a word from a language they hadn't learnt. They knew only four at the moment.

"It's awesome. It's fitting perfectly in both hands!" Percy nearly yelled, flipping the dagger from his right to his left palms and gripping them in offensive and defensive positions. Harry twirled his own and found that he enjoyed just holding on to it.

"It's not for playing. I told you once that you're different. This is for your safety. When you're old enough, I'm sure you'll get another weapon, but remember that this is yours too. You have to keep them with you at all times."

"We're getting another one?" Harry asked. Were they in danger? Was this world she had always hinted a threat to them? Or was the world itself in danger? His eyes drifted to the table where he saw a paper. It looked like a letter…

"Brilliant!" Percy grinned and hugged Sally.

"Be careful of the knife, please."

"You said that it wouldn't hurt normal people." Percy asked. Sally eyed the sword and said, "Don't test that on me. I will ground you and no cookies for a month."

Percy looked alarmed and nodded hastily. "Where should we keep them?"

Sally took the letter off the table and pocketed it when she saw Harry inching towards it. She kneeled and took his dagger.

"Left arm, please."

Harry realized that she wanted to see his bracelet. He extended his arm and she rolled up the long sleeve before touching the base of the handle to the first charm of the bracelet. The dagger dissolved into the charm which glowed for a quick second before fading.

Harry felt the charm, "It's warm."

Percy did the same after rolling up his sleeves. He let out a small giggle and asked, "How can we get it back?"

"Like this." Sally rolled up her own sleeve until her bracelet could be seen. She extended her arm for them to see and flipped her wrist. Her bronze dagger appeared into her grip in a flash.

Harry tried the same, but nothing happened.

"Practice. You need to feel the power of the dagger in your bracelet. This is yours and no one else has the right to use it, especially without your permission. The warmth of the charm means that you will always have one way out of a situation where there are only two exits; life, death."

Percy gulped and Harry's jaw went slack. A Life/death situation. He had a feeling that their lives would only begin to get tougher if no one had come looking for them to kill already.

"Whatever fix you're in, you should always devise a way out the moment there is a 0.5 % chance that you'll be stuck in it. Plan ahead. A battle can be won without a physical fight if you think ahead. And you can think only if you're in a firm state of mind. That's when you have a way out. And this is your way out. Now show me your daggers."

The two boys flipped their wrists keeping in mind the intensity of the words their mother had said and realized that they were holding their daggers.

There was a sound of a knock and all three of them spun around with their daggers out stretched to fight off a…. plant?

The large flower plant had a book in its brambles and Harry darted to the window to open it and get his Sherlock Holmes book that he had left in the forest.

"We scared the plant." Harry said and Percy laughed.

Sally tried to smile but couldn't when she remembered that she had one more thing to tell them. Her thoughts went to the letter written by Poseidon himself. A few short sentences were enough to convey the life-changing message.

Sally had made up her mind. Everything was about to change within two months.

* * *

**Oh, would you look at that? A cliffhanger? Whatever next…**

**Stay tuned to find out, dedicated readers!**

**Cabba. **


	10. Scream it out

**Thank you to the following people – **

**E J ect, ****thestoryofmylife727, ****Silex Wordweaver**** , ****percyjacksonfan135**** , ****theHuntress101**** , ****Crush 'em All**** , ****Mythomagic-Champion**** , ****MoonFaith**** , ****RedRangerBelt**** , ****Pedro Boncompagni**** , ****Jazaline Coriana Lupus**** , ****LazzzyCat**** , ****Sunleaves17**** , ****biblioholic**** , ****c im am a dragon**** , ****CJ Snow**** , **** and the other guest reviewers.**

**Thanks to all those who put this on their fav lists and story alert lists. Thanks for including my story in 6 communities!**

**Guest – Yes, Pecy was expelled for something not entirely his fault. You'll learn why.**

**biblioholic – You guessed right. I'll rework the story in my 'Cabba flair' (I like that!) For the other q, you just have to wait and see.**

**Jenn – You really made me feel great. Is the writing that good? Thank you so much. I will not stop this series. **

**The last chapter. A bit too long…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the works of HP by JKR and PJO by RR. **

**Words – 4460**

* * *

Sally thought about how to break the news to them. She stared at Harry, still holding his book in his hand and Percy, who seemed to be on the edge of a mental breakdown. She got up and pulled back the curtain to look at the Dursleys' house. She saw a lady and her husband pushing three small baby trolleys. They were the Wilmansons. The woman had triplets who were only a month old. Sally had seen the children once. They were nothing short of angels. She brought herself out of her memories and looked at the house.

"You see that?" She asked the two boys came next to her to watch through the window of the kitchen.

"We see that house every day, Mom. Harry goes into that house every day." Percy said slowly.

"Focus. I want you to focus on the house. Can you see something flickering? There's something surrounding the house. Can you see it? Shimmering against what's left of the sunlight?"

Harry frowned, focusing his eyes at the air around the house until he saw it; a shine that passed over an invisible curved surface.

"Yes! I can see it!" He exclaimed. Percy frowned, "I don't see anything like that."

Sally put her arm around Percy and brought him closer to her, "It's like a protection. There is a power field over the house, covering it. It's a shield. Can you see it? It's right there…"

"That bubble like thing over the entire house?"

"Yes!" Sally said.

"Oh, yeah, that's kinda weird, now that you mentioned it." Percy said and then looked at Harry who was thinking as usual.

"What is it, actually?" Harry asked.

Sally took a deep breath and said, "It's a shield for you. It's protecting you and the Dursleys against something. I'm guessing that something big happened in your world. Do you know what? Can you think?"

Harry looked down, his eyebrows scrunched together and then it came to him, "My parents died?"

"That's what I thought too. That's why you were left here and whoever gave you to them made sure to give this defensive action too. It's very strong. That's why you're alive till now. The shield gives you shelter as long as you always return to your home. That's where a person finds the most protection."

Sally let the words sink into their brains. Harry swallowed and asked, "Percy has to go to his home too?"

"Yes, his home is not here." Sally looking at Percy who figured it out.

"We're…leaving? But Harry? We can't leave him here!" Percy asked shocked.

Sally lowered her head, forcing back her emotions. She couldn't face them.

"Mum, you're leaving aren't you? You and Percy are going back. You're leaving me here!" Harry voice was louder now.

Sally looked up, her expression pleading. She placed her hands on the tops of Harry's shoulder and said, "You're safe as long as you stay here. Percy's been safe because we've stuck together for so long. But you have to know that there are powers in this world so strong that they control everything that happens. I can't tell you about them because the more you know, the stronger your awareness is and they'll come for you. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. But when you're older, you'll understand. You'll realize why we're doing this. You have to believe me, please!"

Harry stared at her. She had been his anchor for years. She was the reason he was even alive. And now she was leaving. Taking her son and leaving him because of a stupid shield and power and danger.

Harry dropped the book and ran to the kitchen door.

"Pumpkin!"

He ignored her, opened the door, climbed over the gate and started running.

"After him!" Sally shouted and Percy followed Harry.

Harry glared at everything which flashed past him. He jumped across the river and started running very fast, when he heard a small crack and realized Percy was behind him.

_I'm faster_, he thought and put a burst of speed. There was dust in his trail and Percy gaped.

_Two can play at that game, brother._

Percy didn't jump across the river. In fact he was running on top of it. The water supported his weight easily and gave him energy go even faster. Harry was only a few feet in front of him.

Suddenly the older boy leaped. Harry grabbed a tree branch and swung himself upwards, darting through trees so fast, he was but a blur. Percy stared. Either his ADHD was acting up or Harry seemed to go through some of the trees. Literally through the tree trunks as if he was a part of it.

Percy acted on his instinct and dived into the water. It wasn't too deep. But it was perfectly proportioned for people to swim. And that's what Percy did – the Butterfly stroke. He zoomed past the rocks, in a speed close to a cheetah. Percy looked upwards through the water and saw faint green flashes almost flying through the trees.

Percy realized that the river was going to curve in another direction while Harry would move on straight. He had to act fast. At the moment, he was going at a speed of 9 knots. He was catching up to him.

With a sudden burst of energy, Percy launched himself upwards using a wave from the river. He grabbed Harry around the middle and the both of them flew out of the trees to about five meters high before crashing down into a rough clearing.

"Let go!" Harry shouted. Percy struggled to keep a grip on him. Harry swung his leg and Percy caught it with his left hand. They rolled as Percy tried to come on top to pin him down, but Harry was stringer. He hit Percy on the shoulder with his elbow, but the younger boy grabbed Harry around the neck and swung him.

This went on for some time and they didn't stop, even though the both of them realized that, having being trained by the same person, they were equally matched.

Suddenly, something pulled them back and they landed on their backs. The boys leapt to their feet to face a not-so-happy Sally.

"Stop it. Please. I just want to talk." She said slowly. Harry looked at her briefly and then looked down at the ground. She wasn't angry. But her expression made him feel guilty of running away.

"Let's just talk a calm deep breath and sit down. Inhale."

The three of them took a long breath of the fresh air.

"Exhale."

They let it out in a 'whush' and felt the adrenaline draining out.

They slowly sat down and Sally hoped that they'd listen to her properly instead of running away again. She looked into the darkening skies and sighed.

"There are no forests in New York, did you know that?" She started. Percy's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe it and Harry let out a snort.

"Harry?" She called and he looked at her in surprise. She had never called him that.

"Percy was expelled because he has to leave. It was a sign to me. And then the package came."

Harry interrupted, "That letter was a threat to leave or a request?"

"A decision." She whispered.

"Between us? Because if you stayed here, then Percy'll be vulnerable but of you go back, then we'll be separated." Harry concluded and Sally nodded miserably.

"It was so hard to think but I had to. I don't care what happens but the both of you should be safe. That's my top priority. It would kill me to leave but there are worse things than death."

"Mum, what will happen to me? I won't have anyone. I can't survive on my own –"

"Yes, you can. You're strong. You are mature. You can live on your own for some time till I come back to get you!" Sally said fiercely.

"You'll come back?"

"Either that or you'll find us. The question is about time."

"When?" Percy asked.

Sally sighed, "I don't know, Pepe. It could take a few years at the very most."

"No. I mean, when are we leaving?"

Harry looked up as Sally answered, "In two months. We'll be on a ship."

Percy didn't ask why they weren't going on a plane. Ever since his mom's parents had died on a flight, she had never been on one. Besides the ocean was much cooler than the sky.

"Two months? Halloween." Harry said and Sally blinked hard. Halloween was a dreaded day. For some reason, that day brought about bad things every year. That was also the day when the air around Harry's body would turn into the weather of Antarctica and he had to be bundled up in sweaters, jackets, scarves and mufflers to keep from freezing.

Sally had never taken him to the doctor. When Harry froze, his bracelet would heat up and the refrigerator would be warm compared to the boy.

"I'm so sorry –"

"It's not your fault. It's alright. I'm not weak. I can survive." Harry said impassively.

Sally was quiet before she looked up again to see stars. She could see a hint of the moon before she had an idea.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"To the edge of the forest." Sally said her eyes glinting. Harry and Percy stared at each other on surprise, but she had already started running. Sure they were quite fast, But Sally could beat them any day.

Percy let out a laugh as the air felt cool around them. The speed was refreshing and as they caught upto her, the grass was becoming shorter and thinner. The trees became less in number. The river then turned to the right and the three of them jumped and continued running.

Sally grinned. She loved running. So did her sons.

The ground was slowly leading upwards.

Sally suddenly felt cautious and slowed down. Harry and Percy slowed down too.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

Sally held up her hand to indicate them to be quiet and stay there. She walked a few yards and came to halt.

Yeah. They reached the edge, alright. The edge of the forest. The edge of a cliff.

Though it was a full moon, Sally couldn't see the bottom of the cliff.

"Whoa!" Percy said and she turned back to see Percy and Harry stare up at the moon.

Sally backed up and gestured them to sit on the thin grass. The three of them looked up at the large blue moon.

It was like there was blue dust sprinkled over the moon that gave light blue light everywhere.

"I've never seen one before." Harry said in an awed voice.

"It's called a Blue Moon." Sally said, putting her arms around them. Percy nodded like he was in a trance, "Because it's the Moon and it's blue, right?"

"Is this where the expression comes from?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Sally felt giddy staring at the moon. She felt like she could do anything under the moon.

"The moon's not making any expression." Percy murmured. He then blinked hard trying to rub away the burning sensation. Harry looked down and said, "Don't look at it for too long. It's not good for the eyes. The moon's not making any expression. What I was talking about is the saying - a blue moon - means a rare occasion."

"Oh."

They looked at Sally who was still staring at the moon. It didn't look as if she had blinked at all.

"Mum?" Harry called.

Sally either didn't hear or didn't respond. Through her shirt sleeve, her bracelet glowed dimly. She stared at the moon as if it was calling out to her to.

"Mom!" Percy shouted when she suddenly shuddered. Sally shook her head and pressed her palms to her temples.

"I'm fine. I thought… no, it's nothing. Yes, Pumpkin's right, you shouldn't look at it for too long."

Harry frowned at his mother's strange behavior.

"Can we come here every night?" Percy asked.

Sally shook her head, "How about once a week? We can just sit here and watch the stars and the waxing and waning phases of the moon. But…"

Sally had a silly idea, "We can even scream."

Percy looked confused, "Why would we want to scream?"

"From everything we've been through. Everything that's happening and everything that's going to happen. Haven't you felt that frustration when someone degrades you? It makes you want to pull your hair out or hit something. Since are not exactly acceptable –"

"Neither is screaming." Harry pointed out.

"There's no rule against screaming. Don't you just want to vent out all the anger that has been building up inside you? They expelled you, Pepe, for what was clearly an unfortunate series of events."

"You said that there was some big power at work." Percy said.

"Then don't you feel angry at the big power. Just because they have so much strength doesn't mean that they can cause such things to happen even if it's for the benefit of the world." Sally grumbled.

"You're telling us to hate this main power?" Harry asked slowly.

"It's up to you if you want to hate them or like them. I'm implying that we should scream our frustration out to purge ourselves."

"Alright." Percy said brightly and took in a deep breath.

"Wait! All together. Let's stand up first. There we go! Now… one, two, three."

The three of them inhaled deeply before letting out all their anguish, anxiety, anger, frustration (and other synonyms) out in three loud high pitched screams which lasted for nearly ten seconds.

It felt beautiful. The trees rustled, the river shook, the wind picked up its speed and the clouds moved faster, all seeming to have been affected by the noise. They felt the adrenaline of the release of pent up aggravation and felt that nothing could be more invigorating than that.

Their voices died out before they placed their hands on their knees, breathing hard. Their throats were sore and they looked at each other before turning around and walking back to the house.

* * *

September and October went by rather quickly as all the forms for the departure, booking, settlement, etc. were arranged. Gabe acted like it was his decision all along and took charge of yelling at the movers on what they were doing wrong.

Every time Sally wanted to desperately turn back, the dreams were re-enforced with full force. Nightmares about her sons screaming for her when she couldn't help them. Burning remains of the world in front of her. Air plane crashes and gun shots happening left and right.

She had a good idea of who was doing this. Or rather, who _were_ doing this. No one else but the Fates themselves could be so cruel.

There was even a time when she had brought out her courage to turn back the entire procedure and on the same day, she got an official letter of being deported from England without further notice due to the extra-curricular activities her dear husband had been carrying out. No arrest, no trial/court. Just straight up deportation back to New York.

Was that even legal?

Inputting the Fates into the equation, yeah, it was.

Every Saturday night the three of them would run to the cliff edge and scream their throats out. They were actually getting better at it!

Sally shut the back door of the kitchen. She made sure that every window and door of the house was locked before locking the front door. Harry and Percy were sitting on the grass in their front yard, next to their pumpkin plant. It brought back memories of the day when Sally had been planting the tiny sapling, thinking about how impossible it was to believe that they were in Great Britain. Now, all she could think was that it seemed unbelievable she was leaving. Without Harry.

Speaking of which the boy was bundled up like an Eskimo. The only part of the skin that could be seen were his eyes. He peeped out through his scarf and stared at her. Anyone else would have thought the look to be threatening, but Sally could see that he was scared. He'd never admit it.

"Pumpkin. Take this. Use it wisely. Keep it with you at all times." She handed Harry a small box about the size of her palm. He somehow tucked it into one of his sweaters. Percy hugged him.

Sally then stood straight and walked to House no. 4. Ringing the doorbell made her want to wring something else…

Petunia opened the door and put on a fake sad expression, "It's been nice knowing you, Sally."

Sally took a deep breath and made up her mind, "You're lying. You didn't like me from the day we met. The only person you hate more than me is your nephew. He's the crux of our conversation."

Petunia stared, "Excuse me?"

"I won't excuse you. No one sane would. Some aunt you are. Locking Harry in his cupboard as if you have the right. No child should be treated like that."

Petunia lost her 'sad' expression. She glared Sally and said, "What I do is none of your business!"

"Actually, it is. As an observant neighbor, don't you think I should report the abuse Harry has been facing from his own pathetic excuse of a family? I'm sure the right authorities would be very interested in your the house-hold proceedings where he is concerned." Sally smiled coldly.

"Are you threatening me?" Petunia asked standing at her full height.

Sally straightened up. She was taller by at least a few inches. "I'm glad you can understand our conversation using what's there in your head. There are a few things I would like you to change before I leave."

"Like you have any –"

"I ain't done talking yet. So shut up and listen." Sally spat, putting extreme force on her accent. Petunia recoiled.

"You will let Harry have a proper bedroom. You will treat him with the respect he deserves. You will on no condition starve him."

"You cannot dictate –"

"Do I have to ram what I'm saying in your head, physically? I'd personally have no problem with that, but if you do what I say, the 'strangeness' you fear from him will decrease."

Petunia stopped glaring. She started sweating and her face turned pale. Nowhere near Sally's complexion, though.

"W-what are you talking about?" Petunia managed to say through her teeth. Sally smiled.

"Now that I got your attention; yes, Harry's different; no, whatever you do cannot change him; yes, the peculiarity will be toned down if you treat him better."

Petunia sneered, "He's a freak! A –"

"You call him that once more and I will punch you, you caterpillar." The taller woman snarled.

Petunia staggered back at the intensity of the words. For a moment she thought that Sally was actually going to harm her, but the American smiled much too sweetly and said, "By putting him in tough situation, his energy bursts out uncontrollably. If he was in a calmer environment, he can manage himself and I think you know that more than me, seeing as your sister was like him too."

Petunia's heartbeat was quite high at these words. "How can you…you can't know…you…"

Suddenly a realization dawned upon her, "You're one of them! That's why you took him in! Why you –"

"I'm just like you, unfortunately. Yes, I know a little about his parents. But you're reaction was a bit over the top. I know you're dramatic but…"

Sally's eyes brightened, "Ah. You were jealous, weren't you? Lily seemed a much more free spirit than you, Petunia. Was she younger than you? Yes, I can see it in your eyes. You loved her. But when you found out that she had these…powers and you didn't, that hurt. Yes, the wounds are still raw."

Sally stared at Petunia who looked petrified at being read like an open book.

"How –"

"I can see it. You're practically screaming it out. You're taking out your anger on her son. How can you? Why do you want to throw away those years and experience you cherished with her? I don't think she was the type of person to abandon someone… "

They were quiet for some time before Petunia got back her temper, "She was strange. Always had been. And when she meet Potter at that damned school! Of course their child would be like them. She was perfect! She had the perfect life, the perfect family and then one day everything came crashing down because of who they were."

"You love her. You still do." Sally whispered and Petunia glared daggers at her, "She means nothing to me! She got blown up and dumped her spawn with me!"

"You miss her. It's okay to admit it. I had a little sister too. I miss her very much. Every day."

"I do not miss her! I never cared about her!"

Sally stared at Petunia before realizing that the topic was being diverted. They were talking about Harry.

"Leave him to his own devices. Give him slightly decent room and he'll leave you alone."

Sally turned around from a shocked Petunia before stopping in her tracks exactly where the shield was. She felt the force of it around her skin. Turning back to the frozen Petunia Dursley, Sally said, "If you admit it to yourself, you'll feel so much better. Remember, she's watching you every day, whether you like it or not. Good bye, Petunia."

Sally walked to Harry and Percy who were still sitting in the grass. Harry let out a breath which came as fog before disappearing, "What did you say?"

"Something I hope she'll understand one day."

Sally smiled at Harry and kissed his head. "You're strong. You'll never give up. No matter how many times you fall, you always pick yourself up and start running again. You have people who love you and you'll find so many more. You're a hero, Harry Potter. You will make everyone who loves you proud and one day you'll think back to this moment and remember how different your life had been. There will be decisions to make and choices to choose. But there is only one that's right. Trust your instincts. Know that every thought changes who we are. Every word we say, person we meet and lives we change can change the fate of the world one step at a time."

Harry blinked rapidly and nodded. Sally hugged him and whispered, "You'll love your school. There are three babies from House no. 7. Practice your guitar. Write songs. Scream once a week."

She herself had no idea about the school, Petunia had ranted about, but it was probably a place for Harry like the demigod camp for half-bloods was a place for Percy. Befriending small children by looking at them once a day seemed like a healthy dose to stay sane for the next few years. He'll need some music in his life. And the anger release was a must.

"I love you so much, Pumpkin." She whispered and kissed his frozen cheeks. Percy stood up and hugged him too and held out his hand saying, "Brothers forever."

Harry gripped Percy hand and finished, "Forever and more."

"I'll miss you, bro."

"I'll miss you too."

Percy stared at him and then smiled. He turned and ran to the car. Opening the back seat he climbed in and closed the door.

Sally held both of Harry's hands and said, "The forest protects you. We'll meet again."

Harry nodded, "It's just a matter of time."

He watched as her warm palms left his hands. She walked down the pavement and climbed into the shot-gun spot of the car.

Sally and Percy waved at him furiously as Gabe snarled something to Sally who paid no attention to him. The car reversed on to the road and went down the street, turning out of sight.

It took Harry five seconds to completely realize that they were really and truly gone. His body felt colder than before and his breathe felt hot. He looked down at the pumpkin by his feet as he recalled what she had said.

A school. He'll love his school.

But he didn't. The students were plain nasty to him and the teachers tried to ignore him at times. His aunt, uncle and cousin hated the mere sight of him. All the children around the place were vicious and he thanked his stars that he could outrun them any day. He slowly got up and walked towards the Dursleys' house. He stared at House no. 3 for a moment.

For a second he thought that there was someone inside, watching him through the blinders. He stared at the window and saw nobody. His eyes couldn't have deceived him. It must have been a trick of the light…

The door suddenly opened to reveal his aunt. He expected her to shout, but she said stiffly, "Get in. Diddy's second bedroom is yours. Take you things up there and no arguments." She went into the kitchen leaving Harry slightly shocked.

Numbly, he went to his cupboard and took out everything he owned. It took only one trip for him to get everything upstairs to the room. A bunch of old books and broken toys littered the place, but the bed seemed much more inviting than the cupboard and Harry quietly kept his stuff around the room.

He sat by the window and looked out. The maple tree was growing right by the window. Opening it he climbed down the tree and shuddered. He climbed over the gate, which was now in the wall of House No. 4. He ran until he reached the cliff and nearly screamed his guts out.

Harry sat back exhausted and took out the box. He opened it and felt his ache in the chest deepen.

There were photos. Lots of them. All about the seven years they had spent together. There were a few photo frames along with them. There was a black, Louis&Sons Resort cap stuffed in. Below that was a thick wad of cash. Harry stared at the money.

Use it well.

He didn't want to think how Mum had gotten the money. He didn't want to think when she had gotten the time to get all this done. He didn't want to think about her or Percy.

He didn't want to feel that ache in his chest. It increased with every passing second.

But he reminded himself. He wasn't alone.

He was loved.

* * *

**I felt like a villain while typing this out…**

**The end! Of this story, of course. We move onto Harry's life from SS to PoS, before going onto Percy's life. **

**Fun fact – When I typed out the sentence '…extra-curricular activities her ****dear**** husband had…' The word 'dear' was underlined by spell-check. Guess what the word was suggested by my laptop to replace 'dear'?**

'**dead'!**

**I love my laptop!**

**Stay tuned for the sequel to this sequel! It's gonna come next week, after Monday.**

**Cabba. **


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